Demon Within
by devilsminon
Summary: Natsu left the guild after finding out Zeref was his brother. Taking Happy, he left with no goodbye. Now three years later he returns in need of their help. Zeref must be defeated no matter the cost. But will the others help him? And what about Lucy, will she ever trust Natsu again? Nalu and Galu
1. 00

**00.**

 **LUCY HEARTFILIA**

It has been three years. Three long, long years since Natsu and Happy left the guild without telling anyone where they were going.

Not even telling me where he was going.

I admit, it hurt to see him go, leaving the guild without so much of a goodbye, but I knew he left for a reason. Not that I completely agreed.

The guild was never the same after that. To the outside perspective, the guild might have seemed the same to most. We still laughed and partied and got drunk, but if you looked closely you could see the subtle changes that would often occur. The one happily drunken Gray would go be about to scream out a certain name before he remembered. An angry Erza would call out Gray's name, then as she was about to speak another, she would stop herself and proceed to scold him for fighting. It wasn't just them either. It was Mira, Elfman, Fred, Wendy, Carla, it was everyone.

Even a blond-haired girl who would walk home half expect a pink-haired boy to already be passed out in her bed.

It didn't happen.

After a year, and Natsu had still not come back we stopped waiting on him. A guild exchange program had started where you'd be sent off to another guild to train and learn about life there. Most of Team Natsu greedily took up the offer to go. Erza had been sent to Mermaid Heel while Gray, Wendy, and Carla were all sent to Lamia Scale. When they left I was the only Team Natsu member to stay behind.

I would still talk to both Erza and Gray, even if it was mainly by phone with the occasional drop in from the two of them. The last time I talked to them they seemed to be doing well. Wendy and Carla, however, would come and stop by at least once a month with their new friend Sherria Blendy to check in on me and the other members of the guild.

I had started to go and take jobs with Team Shadow Gear and you could say I was an official unofficial member of the team. Not that Jet and Droy would ever say I was, wanting it to stay between just them and Levy, even though both Gajeel and I were with them on every single mission. Life was good and looked like it was getting back to normal, well, as normal as it ever was.

Well, that was until Natsu came back into town and the whole place was turned on its head.

 **a/n: Hey guys! Welcome to my story, I hope you enjoyed the** prologue **. Natsu will be coming in next chapter so look out for that.**

 **Hope you have a good day, guys!**

 **All the love,**

 **me ️**

 ** _edited: 7/25/16_**


	2. 01

**01**

 **LUCY HEARTFILIA**

 _I could feel Natsu's gaze burning holes in the back of my head. I kept ignoring him, but it had started being too much of a distraction. Letting out an almost silent huff, I glanced back at him to see what he wanted. He was just staring at me. His green eyes looking at me expectantly. I couldn't help the small blush that began to creep it's why onto my cheeks as he kept on staring._

 _I mean, how could I not blush? He looked too cute with his head tilted to one side, his eyes staring at me expectantly. I looked away from him and back to my paper in front of me. I was working on the next chapter of my novel for Levy to read, but I couldn't concentrate with those eyes on me. The fact that he wouldn't stop staring making it worse._

 _I turned around in my chair facing Natsu. He was sitting cross-legged with a sleeping Happy in his lap. "Is there a reason you've been staring at me?"_

 _Natsu blinked, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm bored, Luce, entertain me."_

 _I raised an eyebrow at him, "Oh yeah, and what am I supposed to do about it?" Natsu shrugged again looking at me. "Ugh, in my cardboard over there, there's a deck of cards. Maybe you and Happy can play or something."_

 _Natsu smiled, standing up letting a sleeping Happy fall to the ground with a thud. Happy grumbled and complained about Natsu dropping him as I tried to get back to work. After a minute or two, of them being silent with only a few wisps of their voices here in there I began to get suspicious. I turned around to see what they were doing too late._

 _"LUCY WATCH OUT!" I heard Natsu scream a moment too late._

 _I turned just in time to see a small object come flying towards me._

I let out a hiss of pain as Mira pressed the ice pack to hard against my eyes, pulling me out of my thoughts. She let out a low sorry as she pressed it against my face again, only softer this time. I had another black eye. Only this time, it wasn't from Natsu finding my old champagne bottle, but from a bandit who had taken the scroll from me. The prick.

The mission Team Shadow Gear and I went, well, it was supposed to be an easy one, but no. Snatching the ancient scroll, of course, wasn't easy. We just had to run into booby traps and bandits looking for the scroll as well. We beat them and got the scroll, but didn't come out unscathed. A few cuts and bruises and Droy with a sprained wrist, but I got the short end of the stick and got stuck with a black eye.

Mira finished with me and went over to Droy to check out his sprained wrist.

I looked out the window of the infirmary watching the people of Magnolia. I wished Wendy was here to heal our wounds. Especially because I didn't want to walk around town with a black eye.

That would be just screaming, 'Hey look at me! I got punched in the face! Stare all you want I don't care!'

How about no. So I decided to stay inside until nightfall trying to avoid the worst of the onlookers.

I decided to hang out with Levy, who was lucky enough that she had no marks or bruises, and Juvia as I waited for night to fall. They both agreed that it would be better to stay indoors until Wendy could come and heal us, which, she did time and time again when we called her for help. When Mira had talked to her earlier on the communication lacrima she said it would be some time for her to get here, seeing as she was out on a mission with Gray and Lyon right now.

I would just have to deal with it until then.

 **NATSU DRAGNEEL**

"Are we there yet?" Happy asked, forcing down a yawn. I couldn't help smile down at him.

It had been three years since we had been in Magnolia. To say I was nervous was an understatement. I was basically shaking. I brought my hand up to my hair, running it through my long mane, one of the habits I had picked up since I had grown it out. Not that it was my choice really.

"Natsu," Happy said, drawing my attention back to him.

"What is it, little buddy?" I replied, putting my hand back down to my side.

"You never answered my question." Happy pouted. "My feet hurt from walking all day because you didn't want to take the train."

"Would you rather be doing this or be with Iraneth right now?"

Happy visually shivered.

I couldn't help but to roll my eyes. Just a few hours ago he didn't have any problems with walking, in fact, he said it would be more of a surprise to them if nobody saw us when we came back.

"Natsu, can we stop and rest sometime soon?" Happy practically begged.

I didn't answer him, getting caught up in the familiar smells of home.

A grin appeared on my face as I looked down at Happy. "Well, I guess you won't have to wait for long. Come on, Happy!"

Happy didn't even have a chance to say or do anything as I scooped him up and I took off towards the familiar scent. It didn't take long to get there, having been not far away from town. When I stopped, Happy looked as if he was about to throw up.

"Lucy's place? Why aren't we at the guild?" Happy asked when he sat back up and looked where we were at.

The street lights were barely highlighting the alleyway which we were in, yet, without a doubt, this was Lucy's place. Her scent was all over the place, along with some less desirable scents mixed with hers, tainting it. I didn't even try to hide my scowl as I sniffed the air again. Hoping that my nose was tricking me into smelling what I did.

It was still there. I gripped Happy tightly in my arms.

"Natsu," Happy wheezed, tugging at my arm. "I can't breath."

I let out an 'oh' before releasing my grip on him.

"Sorry," I said, scratching the back of my head. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Happy said, rubbing the arm I squeezed gently. "What's gotten into you?"

I ignored him Turning to look back up at her window. It wasn't that I high above me. I could probably make it.

Hm...

I got ready, getting into my stance before I jumped up and grabbed onto her windowsill and pulled myself up. Her window was unlocked, like always.

"Hey, Luce! We're back!" I called out, half expecting her to appear from the bathroom and start yelling at us to go away, and stop using her window as a doorway. When she didn't answer I tried again.

That _stench_ was worse in here. I had to cover my nose to try and block it out. Why was it even worse in here? I swear the next time I see him I'll kick his ass.

"See, I knew we should have gone to the guild." Happy groaned, plopping down face first into Lucy's bed. "I don't want to move." He complained, his muffled.

"Alright, let's just go to bed in Lucy's bed. For old times sake." Happy nodded sleepily, getting into the covers on the far side of the bed.

I took off my dirty shoes and shirt knowing Lucy wouldn't be pleased if I left those on and got her bed all dirty. Getting under her covers I was surrounded by nothing but her scent. I felt myself relax as I took in her scent. It had been too long.

Before I knew it my eyelids had fallen and I was surrounded by nothing but her.

 **LUCY HEARTFILIA**

Night had finally come, and I was drunker than I had ever been in my life. Gajeel, Levy, Elfman, and I were all playing a drinking game until Gajeel and Elfman had to get into a fight about who was better at singing, not trying to be bias or anything, but I think Gajeel had a way better voice than Elfman's tone deaf one. More drinks were passed around as we watched them have their sing-off. By the time it was over, half the guild was passed out drunk and the other half too out of it to care who won.

I wobbled my way through the guild carefully stepping over people that were out cold from drinking too much, but I was in no place to talk. I probably drank just as much as the rest of them.

"Lucy," I turned to see Mirajane standing towards the back of the room, lifting up Elfman. "Are you sure you want to go home alone? I'm putting Elfman and some of the others in the back rooms. I can make you a bed too."

"I'll be fine," I slurred as I shook my head waving her off.

"Are you sure? You usually have Gajeel walk you home when it gets late." She looked at me worriedly debating whether or not to let me go.

"I've got her."

I turned around to see a handsome ginger-haired man with a suit on. I gasped jumping on him. "Loke!"

He gasped slightly as I snuggled myself into his chest. He was very warm. Like a kitten. A whole round of giggles erupted from my chest at the thought.

"I'll take her home, Mira. She'll probably pass out during the way there anyways."

"Okay, see you tomorrow then, good night Lucy!" I raised my hand in a semi-wave in return.

We made our way outside and I hugged Loke tighter, shivering slightly at the cold. "Lucy you should really wear more clothes, you know it's winter right."

I hummed in reply. Loke sighed, repositioning me for a second before bring me back to his chest. He had taken off his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders. I sighed contently as he continued to walk. It wasn't long before we reached my apartment, Loke setting me down.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"Yup, I'm good. I'll be in the shower anyways." I slurred, handing him back his jacket.

"Okay then, goodnight princess," Loke said, leaning down and kissing my cheek before disappearing back to the celestial world.

I drunkenly stumbled up the stairs to my apartment, unlocking the door and stumbling inside. I threw my keys down on the table my eyes fixated with my bed.

Even with having been drunk and a bit loopy from lack of sleep I should have noticed quite a few things. The loud snoring coming from my bed, and the arm sticking out of my bed wasn't mine.

But no, I didn't notice these things. Instead, I smiled lovingly at my bed and blankets, throwing myself on them.

"Hello, I missed you," I said as I began cuddling into the warm blankets.

More than ever I should have noticed the warm chest beneath me and the strong arm that came to wrap itself around my waist, pulling me closer to their chest.

Instead of noticing these things, I just cuddled into the warmth they were providing me, falling asleep to the beat of a heart that wasn't mine.

 **a/n: Hey all! What's going on? So Natsu made not just one appearance, but two! Proud of me yet?**

 **Anyways, hope you guys are good and all.**

 **Love,**

 **me**

 ** _edited: 7/25/16_**


	3. 02

**02.**

 **LUCY HEARTFILIA**

The light was too bright in my eyes, and the snoring was too loud causing my head to pound. I regretted drinking more than anything as I felt the pain. It felt as if someone was hitting me over the head with a hammer over and over and over again. I let out a low groan and I rolled over as I tried to tuck my head into my soft, warm blankets. It was way too warm in here for the middle of winter. I couldn't really complain. I've always like the hot over the cold.

I was snuggled into it moving even closer as I draped my leg over it, and getting even closer to its warmth. I let out a sigh of content as I felt myself being pulled tighter against it. It was so soft yet hard, warm, and comfortable all wrapped into one.

' _Man,'_ I thought as I lay against it. _'Whoever left this at my house is never getting it back. It's way too nice to give back.'_

It wasn't like anything I've ever felt before. I ran my hand down it to try and figure out what it was. My fingers gently grazed the object, it was not like any blanket or pillow I've ever had before. It was confusing me, because I didn't know what it was, and I swear it was moving beneath me as if breathing.

' _No,'_ I tried to reason with myself. _'That means I have to be laying on a person, and that be the case. I'd know...or would I? I did come home drunk yesterday. I don't really remember much from last night.'_

I shook my head, nuzzling further into the object.

 _'That would be insane.'_ I thought, but no matter how much I put off the idea there was still that feeling in the back of my mind it could be true.

I slowly opened my eyes, blinking a few times to adjust to the light. When I looked up I was met with a dazzling pair of green eyes. I couldn't help myself. I reached out one of my hands to touch his face.

"Natsu," I said confused. "Is this a dream?"

A wide fanged tooth grin answered me. "Why, Luce? Do you dream of me a lot?"

Dear God, his voice was deeper than I remembered it.

I ignored him, continuing to examine him. He looked almost as if he was real. His skin even felt soft and warm under my touch.

"I can't believe how real you look," I commented, sitting up letting my hand slide down to his shoulder to look at his full body.

He was shirtless with only his scarf loosely hung around his neck. His torso was littered with scars, some I remembered and some I didn't, but still, I couldn't help but stare. I always knew he was attractive, but I never really allowed myself to get this close to him to appreciate just _how_ attractie and good looking he was.

"What do you mean, I am real." Dream Natsu said, but I just ignored him, my mind in a far away place as I looked at _him._

I moved my hand down his body, lingering over his hard muscles on his abdomen as I drank him in.

 _'If the only time I can see Natsu is in my dreams, I better make the most of it.'_

My eyes moved all over his chest, the small scars on him some I knew the story behind, and some I that didn't. My eyes followed my hand as it moved down his body. I heard his breath hitch, but I didn't look at him. My hand momentarily stopped when I got to his belly button and I ran my index finger over it, following his light pink happy trail down to the waistband of his boxers.

 _'Should I tempt fate?'_ I wondered as I traced his deep v-lines. _'I mean, this is a dream, so nobody would know.'_

"Lucy," Dream Natsu said, his voice a bit higher than before. He was leaning on his elbows to get a better view on what I was doing. His gaze was set on my hand and a light blush decorated his cheeks. " _God,_ is this really happening?"

What a weird thing to say.

I took a moment to admire his face. Those were the same, beautiful jade eyes I had tried many times to picture, but could never quite get them right until now. There was a new scar just above his eyebrow that I didn't remember being there before, his newly long pink hair was spread out around his head, and his lips. His lips were slightly chapped, but they were looking more kissable than they had ever looked before.

 _'Maybe I should,'_ I thought as I leaned into his face my eyes not leaving his lips. ' _It would make it easy material for Levy to read if I get it down fast enough after I wake up.'_

I slid my hand down so my pink was just under his waistband, my face inching closer and closer to Dream Natsu's until they were inches apart. His eyes began drifting shut as he leaned in too. I let my lids fall, ready to close the distance. We were so close I could feel his hot breath on my lips, and one of his hands behind my head.

This was perfect, amazing, and it was ruined. Just as my lips were just about to graze his, a little blue cat had to pipe up and ruin the whole thing.

"Natsu, Lucy, what are you doing?"

I jumped back, my eyes wide as they landed on the horrified blue cat to the left of me. His eyes were wide in shock as well as he looked at me straddling Natsu's lap, my hand partially down his pants. No, this can't be real, this can't be.

I looked over at Natsu who didn't look surprised at all, actually, it looked as if he was glaring at him. My forgotten hangover suddenly came rushing back to me. My head was pounding.

That wasn't a dream. That was really Happy over there, that was really Natsu who I was on top of.

God, I did that to Natsu. That was really Natsu's body touched, and really Natsu's body I was about to kiss.

I was about to kiss Natsu.

 _God, what was wrong with me?_

My head was spinning and the hangover wasn't helping. God, I needed to get away from this situation.

So, when darkness opened its arms, I gladly welcomed them.

"Lucy's a pervert!" Was the last thing I heard Happy scream before I went unconscious.

I woke up to the sound of two voices as familiar as my own having a conversation. I had to force myself not to blush as I remembered what had happened before I passed out.

"Do you think she's dead?" Happy wondered, and I felt his paw poking one of my legs. "She hasn't moved in a while."

"She's not dead, can't you see her breathing." I heard Natsu reply.

"Would she just drop then? Was it because I said what I said?" Happy asked.

"I don't know, she was probably just surprised to see us, Happy."

 _'Yeah, very surprised.'_

"Yeah, because of you two sucking face is a reasonably surprised reaction."

"We were not sucking face! "

"Whatever, Natsu, deny all you want, but you're probably going to try and make out with her later, anyway. Admit it."

It was silent for a moment with none of them talking. I decided now would be a good time to open my eyes before they realized I was faking it with the blush on my face. I opened them to be met with my white ceiling. I looked over to where they were talking to see them in some kind of staring match.

Natsu was standing as he glared down at Happy on the bed, his arms folded a crossed his chest. They were waiting for one of the other people to look away first, neither one of them wanting to back down. It wasn't until Natsu seen me sitting up that he left Happy's gaze and his jade orbs met my brown ones.

"Lucy!" I heard Happy yell, throwing himself at me, hugging me as tightly as he could. "You're not dead!"

I wrapped my arms around him tightly looking over to at the figure standing above me. "Natsu,"

"Hey Luce," He said with a big fanged grin. I couldn't fight the blush that appeared on my cheeks. It wasn't that long ago that Natsu had given me a similar smile, and what had transpired after that...

I shook my head ignoring the thoughts running through my head.

I took a moment to take in his appearance for the second time today. Natsu had changed from his nineteen-year-old self I once remembered. The most noticeable thing that had changed was his hair, which was way longer than mine going to about his mid back, but that wasn't the only change. If you looked closely he was taller than before-around Gray's height now, new, fresh scars littered his body some big and some small, and his muscles seemed to be bigger now-not that I was looking.

I sat there awkwardly waiting for someone to break the silence. I mean, what are you suppose to say to the people you haven't seen in three years? They typical, 'hi' or 'how have you been' didn't really seem to fit for a something like this. Lucky for me, I didn't have to wait long. Unlucky for me, it was the stupid blue cat who spoke up first.

Lucky for me, I didn't have to wait long. Unlucky for me, it was the stupid blue cat who spoke up first.

Unlucky for me, it was the stupid blue cat who spoke up first.

"Wow, Lucy, what have you been doing since we left? Have you been hanging out with Cana lately, because you smell like a brewery!" Happy said, making a big show of covering his nose with his paw. "Not that you really smelled good before." Happy added as an afterthought.

"Why you," I pushed him off my lap and watched as he hit the floor with a ' _thud'._ "You really should be nicer to me. This is my house after all. I can kick you out whenever I want."

Natsu rolled his eyes, "Geez, Lucy, you haven't changed much, huh. First time seeing us after three years and you want to kick us out of your house." Natsu plopped down on the bed my feet, stretching out and putting his arms behind my head as he looked at me. "Do you do that with everyone, or is it just us?"

Three years. I wonder if Natsu knew what that entailed. What he would do when he found out that I've changed, how the guild has changed. I wonder how he will take it.

"Well, you two are the only ones who come without being invited," I said, standing up to put distance between us. The memories of earlier still raw.

"See, Natsu," Happy said, climbing on top of the bed, rubbing the newly forming bump on his head. "See, I told you we should have gone to the guild first! Mira wouldn't have treated us this way." Happy sent a glare my way.

"Shut up, Happy," Natsu said, hitting him over the head with one of my pillows. This causes a whole new round of arguing and bickering between the two of them.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes, though, he did bring up a valid point. Why were they here? What did they want? It had been three years after all, and they left without saying goodbye to no one, not even me. I was so worried over these two for three years. I thought I understood and excepted that he wouldn't have left without a good reason. I guess not.

"Why are you here?" I said, stopping their arguing.

They both looked at me, eyes wide as they saw the look on my face. I was angry, I knew I was and no matter how much I didn't want to be. No matter how much I wanted to understand.

"To see you," Happy offered, but I wasn't having it.

"Why are you here, in Magnolia, in my room? What do you want?"

I looked at Natsu, all the embarrassment from this morning gone as I looked into his eyes, searching for an answer. He looked away.

Natsu sighed, "We're here because we missed you." Happy snorted. "Well, I did at least. That's why we're not in the guild. I wanted to see you."

"Bullshit," Natsu looked genuinely taken back. I had never really cussed around Natsu before, he was always the one with the profanities. Well, after spending three years with Gajeel changes some things about you. "What's the real reason?"

Natsu looked over to Happy, who just nodded to him. He let out a sigh.

"I need your help. I think you're the only one that can help me."

 **a/n: I really like this chapter, it kind of sets the mood with Natsu and Lucy's relationship.**

 _ **edited: 8/1/16**_


	4. 03 AS FAR AS UPDATED

**03**.

 **LUCY HEARTFILIA**

I didn't know what to feel. I didn't know how to react. I knew he had come back for something, but I didn't think it could be this. How do you react to this kind of thing? Do you agree to help? Or do you ignore them and let someone else deal with them? I wasn't sure.

"Lucy," Natsu called my name moving to stand in front of me, his face too close. I push him away. A look of hurt flashed a crossed Natsu's face but quickly disappeared. "Did you hear me?"

My words were caught in my throat and I couldn't get them loose. I nod my head, not sure how to answer in words. Natsu never admits he needs help, never so why now, why to me?

"God," Natsu said, running his hand through his hair in frustration. "I didn't want to start off like this, you know, I didn't want to tell you, but I'm running out of time."

Natsu stopped in front of me, and I looked back at the dragon slayer, his 5'9 frame standing just above my 5'4 self. His long, out of control bangs covered his eyes as he bent his head down. I don't think I've ever seen Natsu like this before. I feel a pang in my chest, but I couldn't do anything about it even though I wanted to. Happy looked at him sadly, flying up and putting a paw on his shoulder.

"Natsu," Happy said, whispering something I couldn't hear. Natsu nodded, looking back up at me the painful expression gone. Happy turned towards me, a smile on his face. "Lucy, we're going to go-"

"Go where?" I spoke before I had the chance to think about it. I mentally kicked myself.

"Not far, just to the guild," Natsu said, taking a step closer to me, his expression still unreadable. "It shouldn't take that long, just going to inform Gramps about me getting back."

"So your back then. For good?" Natsu hesitated. I let out a sigh. Of course, he wasn't. I should have known otherwise. I turned away from him, focusing on going back to bed. My head was killing me.

"Lucy," Natsu said, reaching out and grabbing my hand. I looked down to our interlocked hands trying to ignore the feelings it gave me. "Look," He said, pulling me closer to him. "I might not be back for good yet, but that doesn't mean that I'm leaving you."

"Yeah, only because you want my help." I snapped yanking my hand from his.

"No-Lucy that's not it. Are you even listening to me?"

I wasn't and I didn't want to.

"Lucy, Lucy-" Natsu took ahold of my arm, turning me around to face him. "Look," He said, letting go of my arm and running his hand through his long hair. "I know what I said sounded bad," I snorted but Natsu kept talking as if I didn't. "but that's not what I meant. I meant to say that, I won't be leaving you behind. Not now, and not ever again. Do you understand me, Lucy? Do you understand what I'm saying?"

I shook my head, no, and Natsu sighed. He grabbed my hand, pulling me closer to him. For the second time today he was too close for comfort.

"Look, Lucy, I-"

There was a harsh knock on my door interrupting Natsu. I stared at it blankly wondering if it was just my imagination. When it happened again, I tried to pull away from Natsu looking down to see our hands still intertwined with each other. I pulled away, letting my hand drop to my side as I went to open my door.

Gajeel stood leaning against the door frame, a smirk was set on his lips that slowly turned into a grin as he looked at me.

I couldn't help but smile back.

"Hey, bunny, you know I have to say, in the daylight, your black eye doesn't look as bad as I thought it was." He said, placing a hand on my head.

"You were also drunk," I replied, pushing his hand off.

"Even so, I picked these up for you."

I couldn't help the goofy grin that made it's way onto my face. They were my favorite kind of sunglasses.

"Thanks, Jeel," Gajeel shrugged, handing them over to me.

"Can I come in? I mean, standing in your hallway makes me seem a little bit like a creeper.

He took one look at my expression and his smiled dropped. "What's wrong?" His eyes scanned my apartment sniffing the air slightly as he did so. His eyes locked with something behind me and they instantly glared. I turned and saw Natsu standing there, glaring right back.

"So, _you're_ back," Gajeel sneered at Natsu, pulling me closer to him. Natsu glanced at the close proximity of our bodies but didn't mention it.

He seemed to ignore Gajeel and look straight at me. "Lucy, can we talk, alone?"

Gajeel raised an eyebrow at him, but I spoke before he could. "I think we've said enough, Natsu. Happy, maybe you and Natsu should check in with the guild. Tell them you're alright."

The exceed nodded pulling the pink haired dragon slayer behind him. They were almost out the door when Natsu stopped.

"Wait," Natsu said turning around and faced us. "are you coming?"

I sighed and was tempted to say no, "Yeah we'll be there soon I just have to talk to Jeel about something."

Emotion flashed in Natsu's eyes, but as quickly as it came it was gone. He nodded letting Happy pull him out. As soon as he left I let out a huge sigh I didn't know I was holding in. I looked towards Gajeel with wide eyes.

"What is he doing back here?" Gajeel asked I closed my eyes resting my head against the wall behind me.

"He said he needed my help," I replied opening my eyes looking straight into Gajeel's red ones. "I didn't answer him."

A smile spread across his face. "Nice going bunny, you gave salamander exactly what he needed."

I looked at Gajeel slightly confused, "what do you mean?"

"Everyone back at the guild is going to take salamander back without question. What you said told him that he had to earn your trust and respect back and you weren't just going to hand it to him on a silver platter." Gajeel moved to stand next to me leaning against the wall. "You're getting meaner bunny,"

I playfully pushed him laughing. When Natsu and everyone else had left the guild I started working with Team Shadow Gear and hanging out with Gajeel a lot more. He listened to my ranting about Natsu leaving and helped me get through those three years our guild was in depression. We've become pretty close and I feel like he's the older sibling I never had.

"We should probably go now," Gajeel noted looking at the clock hang on the wall. It had been a half-an-hour since Natsu had left.

I nodded grabbing a pair of sunglasses heading out the door with him. I forced Gajeel to walk slowly to the guild postponing seeing Natsu again. When we finally got to the guild we could hear the laughter all the way from outside. Opening the doors we peered into the guild hall to see Natsu being surrounded by a group of people. I looked at him, but I couldn't catch his eye. He was too busy talking to Lissana to notice us coming in.

I looked away from and looked over to our usual table was and seen Team Shadow Gear already sitting. I sat down next to Levy who smiled at me. I glanced around the table at the familiar faces of Droy, Levy, and Juvia. Jet seemed to be missing from the table and I looked over to Levy.

"Where's Jet?"

Droy took a pause from stuffing his mouth with food."He went over to Porlyusica's place to tell Master Makarov that Natsu's back."

I nodded and looked back at Natsu, he didn't even glance our way once, too busy laughing at something Elfman said.

I looked around for Happy and found him sitting at the bar eating a fish. He took off his pack so his guild emblem was showing along with other things. There were a few scares over his back that his pack covered up. They were no doubt from the missions Natsu and him had been on. I got up and made my way over to the bar.

I walked passed Natsu and the group of people surrounding him, finally catching his attention. His face seemed to brighten as he looked at me and shot me that fanged tooth smile of his waving me over. I ignored him, a little pissed that he just ignored when we came in earlier. His face seemed to drop, and he looked down at the ground. I wanted to go over there and comfort him, but I knew if I did that I'd be giving up being angry with him and I wasn't sure if I was ready for that yet.

Kinana smiled at me. "Hello Lucy, what can I get for you today?"

"A strawberry milkshake and a pina colada," the pina colada was actually for Gajeel, not me, but being seen ordering such a girly drink would make him seem weak. So, I always order one for him and sneak to him very ninja like. Okay not really, I drink my strawberry milkshake and pour the drink into the glass once I'm finished.

"Isn't great, Lucy? Natsu and Happy finally came back when we thought they never would." Kinana said happily. "You were the only one who actually thought they would return after all this time. Who would have thought you would be right?"

She set down my drinks and I lightly sipped on it. The coldness of the fresh milkshake felt nice in my mouth. Lily and Happy had stopped watching and turned watch Mira as she walked over to Natsu. I heard Happy mutter something from beside me, but I wasn't paying attention.

Mira said something to Natsu which made the rest of the group laugh, Natsu looked away blushing. His eyes met mine and the blush seemed to darken. He said something and the rest of the group booed.

I looked away from them and back to Kinana who had set the drinks in front of me.

"Hey Lily," I smiled and he smiled back.

"Hello Lucy, where were you? You missed Natsu's grand entrance."

I looked at him confused. "Grand entrance?"

Lily nodded. "He kicked open the door and screamed some profanity and the rest of the guild attacked him."

"He screamed, 'I'm back bitches! Now get ready to get your asses beat. Where the fuck is Erza and Laxus? I want a fight!'" Happy filled in. I glanced at him back didn't reply. I was angry with him too.

"Sound like him,"

"So, where were you?"

"Talking to Jeel," I replied looking over towards our table. Gajeel was glaring at the drink in my hands then back up at me giving me a pointed look that obviously said, 'come over here and give me that drink because I'm too scared to get it myself'. I couldn't help but smile grabbing the fruity drink and walking over to him.

"About damn time," Gajeel whispered towards me as I sat down next to him. I downed the rest of my milkshake pouring the girly drink in the glass, and handing it to him. He took a bit gulp of it automatically.

"Good?" I asked and he nodded a slight blush on his cheeks as Levy looked at the empty glass in front of me. She didn't know about Gajeel's guilty pleasure.

Before she could say anything the two large guild doors opened to reveal Master Makarov. He was looking straight at Natsu.

"Natsu," the guild was silent now, waiting for Makarov's next words. "I want you and Happy in my office, _now."_

It had been an hour or two and Natsu still hadn't come out. That didn't stop the guild from celebrating their return. The guild was full of laughter it seemed like normal again.

"Lucy, over here!" I turned to see a small blue haired girl smiling and waving over to me. I smiled at her making my way over. Wendy was standing near the entrance, next to her stood Carla, Lyon, and Gray.

 _Gray._

Oh, Mavis.

Only she could guess what his reaction to Natsu would be. Though he hadn't been completely angry that he had left, when he got drunk he went a little over board about what he would do when he seen Natsu again. Needless to say, he was very exspressive.

"Hey guys, Gray long time no see," I said casting him a friendly smile.

He smiled back scanning the crowd, "Yeah, long time...why is everyone so damn cheerful?"

I hesitated to try to think of a way to explain the situation. I didn't have to as Juvia appeared, flinging herself into Gray's arms, hugging him. Gray hugged her back awkwardly.

Ever since Natsu left Gray had not been as cold towards Juvia like he used to be. He actually took the time to listen to her and be friends. They were nowhere near the boyfriend, girlfriend status, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did end up in a relationship together.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked Wendy seeing that she was the only one paying attention to me anymore as Gray and Lyon were fighting over Juvia.

"We got off of the mission early and decided to come and visit everyone! Plus, you need to be healed right?" I nodded, "Great!"

I lead Wendy and Carla over to the table and took off my sunglasses as she began to heal me. It didn't take her long to heal it at all. I was actually really impressed with her.

"Wow Wendy, you've gotten really good at that!" I said and Wendy beamed with happiness.

"Thanks,"

We had small talk for a while talking to each other about life when Gray and Lyon walked up, Juvia in tow.

"Why the fuck is everyone so damn happy?" Gray asked again, this time, looking me straight into the eye. "Lucy, what aren't you and Juvia telling me?"

'So he tried asking Juvia too huh,' I thought to myself.

"Gray I think you should sit down," Lily said looking at Gray from Gajeel's shoulder.

"Why the hell should I sit down-" Gray's eyes widened as he looked towards the back on the guild. "Natsu,"

Master had finally come back from talking with Natsu. Natsu was smiling sadly at the laughing exceed.

"NATSU!" Gray screamed. Natsu whipped his head towards us and looked at Gray. A fanged grin appeared on his face.

"GRAY!"

And the charged each other, limbs going everywhere and fists flying with fire and ice going everywhere. Finally, someone had enough after this went on for about twenty minutes.

"ENOUGH!" Master screamed and Gray fell silent. Hell, the whole guild did. Master was angry and that was not good. "Mira, get Erza on the communication lycrima now. Gajeel, Lucy, Wendy, Gray, Natsu, I want you in my office, now."

That's when I knew things were getting serious.

 **a/n: here's a long (sort of) chapter for the long wait. three reviews for an update**

 _ **Edited: 8/25/16**_


	5. 04

**04.**

 _ **Natsu Dragneel**_

We were in Gramps office waiting for him to return with Erza. I stood towards the back of the room with Happy while the others sat in a circle towards the back of the room.

I chewed on my already small nails trying to get rid of my nerves without success. My jaw was throbbing slightly from the spot where Gray had punched me earlier. I knew when Happy and I decided to come back that someone wasn't going to forgive me, but I didn't think it would be Gray. I thought he would be pissed yell at me for a while THEN, try to fight me. I thought Erza would have played the sneak attack move. Just thinking about what Erza would do to me sent shivers down my spine.

I also didn't expect Gajeel and Lucy to act so...close. When Happy and I were coming back to Magnolia all I could think about how Lucy would react to my return. Now that I'm back and I found out that Lucy and Gajeel were actually friends it was really confusing. Well, a lot of things confused me but this more than anything. When I left they were barely on speaking terms and now they called each other nicknames like, bunny girl and _Jeel_. They're way too close for comfort, and now that's she's mad at me I can't do anything about it. Every time I look at her she's glaring at me. (I bet that's Gajeel's fault). His rudeness and bad attitude rubbing off on her making her hold a grudge on me. She's been around him too long. _Way_ too long.

I bit down on my nail a little too hard making one of my sharp teeth pierce the skin. The vile, irony taste of blood quickly filled my mouth. As soon as the taste hit my sensitive taste buds, I pulled the finger from my mouth inspecting the damage. Blood began dripping from the wound and hitting my white pants.

"Fuck," I muttered quietly getting Gajeel and Wendy's attention.

Wendy gasped coming over to me. "Oh Natsu, you're bleeding."

 _No duh._

"I'll be fine," I reassured her, but she didn't listen. She grabbed my hand examining the wound. She looked it over with a worried expression.

"It's pretty deep Natsu," Wendy said setting my hand down. She began to use her magic to heal me, a warm feeling flowing through my finger. I sighed leaning my head against the wall behind me.

After a minute or two she finished and I examined her work. You couldn't tell that there had ever been a wound there at all. The only evidence was the blood on my pants.

"Thanks, Wendy," I said ruffling her hair playfully making her pout.

"Hey!" Wendy yelled trying to push my hand off of her head. I laughed letting her push it off taking in the differences from the last time we've seen each other.

She was taller now, she stood barely below my chin making it hard to gauge just how tall she had actually grown because I've grown too. She's also matured since she was twelve. She had boobs now about Levy's size. (Not that I was staring at them to compare.) She's grown a lot since her twelve-year-old self.

"Natsu," Wendy said pulling me from my thoughts. "Why do you have long hair like Gajeel's?"

I looked down at my long pink locks falling off my shoulder. I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess I haven't had time to get it cut."

Wendy nodded my head staring at my pink locks.

"Well then, I guess Lucy's spirit, Cancer, can help you with that now can't he." I gulped, slowly turning around to face the women behind me. Erza smiled, "Hello, Natsu,"

She began to walk closer to me and I sheepishly began to cower away. "Hey Erza, long time no see huh. Yeah, well we should catch up some time other than now. Okay, well I'll be going now, bye!"

"Natsu."

Crap, and I was almost out the door too.

I turned back around only to be hugged to Erza's metal chest. "Natsu, where have you been?"

I relaxed slightly but didn't let my guard down all the way. She hugged me tighter to her chest squashing my face into her metal breastplate. I really hoped she'd get rid of her metal boobs while I was gone.

"That's enough Erza, release Natsu." Erza gave me one tight squeeze before releasing me. "Natsu has very important information about his whereabouts these past three years. I don't want _any_ interruptions." He gave a pointed look towards Gray.

I walked towards the front of the room, Gramps nodding at me to start. I took a deep breath before looking at the faces of my friends. I suddenly felt mixed emotions whether I should actually bring them into this mess. I needed help, but I could have gone to see Sting and Rouge instead.

No, I shook my head. I had to bring them into this. I needed people I really trusted next me now more than ever.

Then I began to tell my tale.

 **(FLASHBACK START)**

 _As soon as the train stopped and the world stopped spinning I was off into the night, Happy following closely behind me. I heard Lucy call out to me, but I just ignored it and kept running. I ran and ran and didn't stop running until my legs gave out from under me. I couldn't believe it. Zeref was my brother. The monster whose minions tried to kill my friends and me many times was my **brother**. I felt tears well up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. _

_"What if I turn out just like him?"_

 _"What if I hurt the Fairy Tail guild?"_

 _"Do they even want me now knowing my heritage?"_

 _I knew the thoughts were crazy, but that didn't stop them from coming._

 _I fell asleep the next morning to the sound of heavy breathing next to me. I rolled over smiling slightly at the sound. It was the exact way Igneel sounded when he slept. I smiled even more at the thought. Then I realized something. This couldn't have been Igneel because Igneel was dead. He died protecting me from Agnologia._

 _My eyes shot open and the second they adjusted to the dark I scrabbled back as a huge dark red dragon came into view. It sleeping next to where I was just laying. Where Happy was still laying._

 _"Happy," I gasped out quietly. He stirred slightly but otherwise was unaffected. "Happy," I tried again._

 _"Natsu," Happy said sleepily, taking one his paws and rubbing his eye. "What time is it Natsu?"_

 _"Happy, come over here quickly,"_

 _"What for?" Then he opened his eyes and looked above him. He let out an ear piercing scream and flew over to me._

 _I would like to say that the dragon didn't wake up and that Happy and I were able to wait patiently for the dragon to wake up and have a friendly conversation with it and then left. But I couldn't. It started to rise up getting up shakingly off the ground. I knew Happy and I would have to book it out of there because if this dragon as anything at all like Igneel then we were in trouble._

 _It slowly got to it's feet and turned around to face us a glare placed fiercely on it's withered features. The dragon was old. I don't mean hundreds of years old because Igneel was almost six hundred years old. This one had to be at least a thousand or more._

 _It glared down at Happy and me but made no move to attack us. "What do you think you're doing screaming so late at night?" He said in a deep voice._

 _"What are you doing here?" I retorted back._

 _The dragon just looked at me silent for a while staring me down. Happy was shivering like crazy behind me trying to make himself as small as possible. The dragon saw this and rolled his large eyes._

 _"You can tell the cat to calm down now. I'm not going to eat him. Cat is too stringy for my taste. Although, that fish in your pack would be a nice treat." The dragon smiled at Happy hungrily showing off his rather large teeth._

 _Happy pause for a moment letting the words sink in. He flew backward taking the fish out of his pack and hugging it to his chest. "No! This is my fish that Natsu and I caught! Get your own!"_

 _The dragon looked down at me with curious eyes. "You're Natsu, son of Igneel is that correct?"_

 _I gasped at the dragon in shock._

 _"YOU KNEW IGNEEL!" I yelled, causing him to put his hands over his ears._

 _"I had forgotten how loud you young dragons can be," He muttered. "Yes I knew Igneel, I named him in fact."_

 _I looked at him confused. What did he mean named him?_

 _The dragon took on look at my lost expression and mutter a few unkind words. "Igneel was my son. You can call me Iraneth."_

 _So, this dragon was Igneel's dad? I didn't even know he had a dad let alone one that was still alive and kicking._

 _Literally._

 _"That still doesn't explain why you were sleeping next to us!" Happy said flying up and pointing his fish at Iraneth accusingly._

 _Iraneth snapped down towards the fish in his hand causing Happy to fly back with a shriek. "That answer is simple,_ _cat, Natsu smelt like Igneel. Back in my day us dragons from the same pack would sleep next to one another. Natsu smelt of Igneel meaning he was in my pack that he's a part of my family and I **could** sleep next to him. Any more questions, cat?"_

 _Happy, scared, shook his head no flying back down towards me_

 _"What do you mean by pack?"_

 _Iranenth just shook his head, "Not tonight young one. Sleep and we'll talk more in the morning."_

 _I stared at the dragon laying back down in front of me. I could leave and never come back. But if this guy is really Igneel's father than I could learn a lot from him. I shrugged, yawning slightly before walking over and laying down next to him._

 _I sat in front of Iraneth watching as he began to eat the rather large fish he had caught earlier. Happy was sitting next to me drooling as he stared at the fish. I had caught him and myself on earlier, but this was the 'fish of his dreams'. Sorry buddy but it doesn't look like he wants to share._

 _"So," Iraneth said after he was done eating. "Tell me what's happened in your life."_

 _So I did I told him everything. I told him about how Igneel raised me, me joining Fairy Tail, my adventures with Fairy Tail and my team. I told him about Igneel's death and then I told him about being Zeref's brother. Iraneth listened to me the whole time making no interruptions while I told my story._

 _"I see, so Igneel's dead then," Iraneth said after I'd finished. "And he disappeared before you finished your training."_

 _"Finished?"_

 _I thought I had already finished my training what did he mean about not finishing?_

 _"Dragon slayers were given their magic so they could defeat dragons, correct. Well from what you told me about the dragon king festival none of you or the over seven dragon slayers could defeat any dragons. So what's wrong with that? Is the magic faulty? The answer is no. Your dragons disappeared before you could finish your training. I could help you if you want. "_

 _I nodded my head vigorously, "Oh yeah! I'm fired up now! When do we start? Oh man, we've got to tell Lucy, she'll be-"_

 _"Natsu," Iraneth interrupted._

 _I looked up at him, "yeah?"_

 _"You can't go back. The training will take years to complete and you going back will only ruin your focus and we won't get anything done. So I'll give you a choice. You stay and we'll finish the training or, you go and live with the power you have now."_

 **(FLASHBACK END)**

The room was quiet as I paused my story, gauging their reactions. Gray had finally stopped sending me death glares and looked less pissed than earlier. He caught my eye and sent a glare towards me, but it was half-hearted. I knew he was thinking about what he would have done if the roles were reversed.

"So you decided to stay," Lucy said once I finished. She had her head down her eyes covered by her bangs. She looked up and there was a fury behind her glossy eyes. "You stayed so you could get stronger right? So are you, are you stronger than you were before?"

I was taken from her choice of question. Was I stronger?

Oh yeah, I was _way_ stronger. I bet I could even take on Erza, Mira, and Laxus at the same time and win. That's how good I had gotten. The way she spoke her question made me pause. She made it seem like there was some double meaning behind it or something.

"Yes, I did." Lucy leaned back in her seat nodding her head, lost in thought.

"Good," she muttered.

She looked like she wanted to say more, but she was holding back. She was most likely going to scream at me later and for whatever reason she seemed mad now. My view of Lucy was cut off by a certain blue headed girl standing in front of her voice going a mile an hour.

"Slow down Wendy," Carla scolded the girl. She nodded muttering a quick yes before turning back to me.

"You've seen a dragon that wasn't Agnologia!" She gasped. I nodded a smirk put on my face at her jealous stare. "What was he like?"

What was Iraneth like? Well, he was mean, demanding, pushy, a pain in the ass. but a damn good teacher.

"He was really mean!" Happy answered for me. "He made me train even though I wasn't even learning dragon slayer magic! We always had to wake up at early hours so Iraneth and Natsu could fight. And he always took my fish!"

That got a chuckle from everyone in the room. Happy didn't think it was funny and went on to yell about all he bad things Iraneth put us through.

The room was silent again and I began to yawn. Damn, I was sleepy.

"That's not all, Natsu," Gramps said glaring at me. "Tell them everything."

I nodded my thoughts going back to what made me want to come back.

 **(FLASHBACK START)**

 _I looked at the date on the newspaper in shock. It had been three years since I had last been home. I didn't understand how it could have been that long. It only seemed like a year ago I had left, but it was actually three! Suddenly the mixture of alcohol and nasty ass Desierin food didn't seem like a good mixture. I felt like I was going to be sick. I quickly rushed into the bathroom to throw up. The room was hot just like everywhere else in this stupid country._

 _We were currently in Desierto. A rather large country (a lot bigger than Fiore) full of sand and volcanos and the place Iraneth had called home. Iraneth had brought us here to train with no interruptions. At first it had been okay. I mean we had to leave for me to learn my full potential. (Plus, Iraneth promised we'd get to blow things up.) Now that my training was complete Happy and I would finally get to go home. I couldn't wait._

 _After I was done throwing my guts up, I flushed the toilet. In my need to empty my bowels, I didn't even realize where I had gone. Looking around the place it seemed like I had ran into someone's room. I heard someone enter the room, the door shutting behind them. I was about to go out and apologize when the topic of their conversation caught my interest._

 _"Are you sure it's safe to talk here? What if someone overheard. " The first voice said._

 _"We'll be fine, I've put up ruins around the room. Not even a dragon slayer could overhear us." Voice two replied smugly._

 _How ironic._

 _The seconds breathing slowed down slightly, but his heart was still racing like crazy. "Now, down to business."_

 _The sound of papers shuffling could be heard._

 _"Lord Zeref sends word that he's planning an attack in two months time," The first voice said._

 _Zeref, these were his minions. Just thinking that they may have been his made me want to go out there and kick their asses demanding answers. The old me would have, but training with Iraneth had taught me to be patient, knowing when to attack and when not to. But that didn't mean that these guys weren't going to be in the middle of a bar fight later._

 _"He's planning on attacking Bellum's capital overrunning the castle and taking over. From there Lord Zeref will plan to make moves to awaken Master E.N.D.. You'll be on the main attack force, Minoru, fuck this up and you're dead." The first voice warned._

 _"I understand sir," Minoru replied._

 _It was silent as the two began to leave the room. I knew where and when Zeref would be. Now I could finally be sure to kill him once and for all._

 **(FLASHBACK END)**

"Are you sure your information is correct?" Erza asked staring at me with a deadly glare. "If you're wrong Natsu, and we storm the castle, this could start a war between Fiore and Bellum. We never been on good terms and Fiore's strongest guild storming into their castle wouldn't look good. So I'll ask you again. Are you sure?"

Erza stared at me her brown eyes burning holes into my own. I glared right back proving I wasn't scared of her. She raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn't give up her stare. "Yes, I'm sure."

"He's brought proof with him, Erza," Gramps spoke, walking over to hand Erza the letter I had brought with me. Erza took it out of his hands and looked it over. "It's authentic I had Lucy summon her spirit, Crucis, look it up for me."

My vision went over to Lucy who was sitting down silently not making a sound. She still seemed deep in thought but broke out of it and looked over to Gajeel. I looked down and seen his hand around hers and he looked at her in a strange way. I felt a growl rise in the back of my throat, but I pushed it down looking back over at Gramps and Erza. They were in a deep conversation about what we were going to do. I knew that whatever they decided I would go. Whether they were coming or not.

I felt a light tugging on the bottom of my pants and looked down to see Happy standing there looking up at me. "Natsu,"

"Yeah, little buddy, what's up?"

"Do you think, do you think Carla will ever forgive me?"

I looked over to the white exceed talking to Panther Lily beside her. She would glance at Happy but never long enough to get his attention. That made me smile. "I think she will,"

Happy looked up to me hope shining brightly in his eyes. "Really?"

I smile down at him, "Yeah, try with fish. You always used to do that before,"

"I will thank you Natsu!" He said happily flying towards Carla.

I laughed watching him as he presented a fish towards Carla. There was a light blush on her pink fur as she saw Happy down on one knee presenting her the fish.

"Alright!" Erza spoke loudly drawing everyone from their conversations. "Master and I have made a decision. In a weeks time, we'll be heading for Bellum to _investigate_ what's going on. Any suspicious activity we'll report it to Master Makarov and wait for instructions. Any questions? No, good. Natsu," Erza said looking at me. "The rest of you can go I want a word with Natsu in privet."

Everyone got up and left the room following Erza's command until it was just us in the room. She waited a moment before she spoke. "Natsu, I understand why you left and I don't judge you for it. If I was in your place I probably would have done the same thing. That doesn't mean I'm not royally pissed off at you right now and want to kick your ass." She laughed, "You need to mend the relationships you lost when you left."

With that she began to walk out the door throwing some piece of advice behind her shoulder, "I'd start with Lucy if I were you."

 **a/n: LONG ASS CHAPTER SO YOU BETTER BE HAPPY! okay it wasn't that long but still tell me what you thought of it and stuff. :)**


	6. 05

**05.**

 **LUCY HEARTFILIA**

The guild began to party after we left Master Makarov's office cheering and yelling welcoming Natsu back to the guild. The party started strong, but I wanted none of it. I didn't want to celebrate the return of the man I was pissed at. So I sat towards the back of the guild with Gray for a while and talked with him. He was just as pissed at Natsu as I was.

I thought it was going to Gray and me (and a stalker Juvia hiding off behind a plant in the corner) as the loners in the back of the guild hall not having any fun for the rest of the night. Well, as it turns out Gary also wanted to join in on the fun. As soon as Lyon challenged his drinking skills he was off, yelling curses and accepting his challenge.

He ended up with a tie with Lyon, Cana out drinking both of them and had a pile of barrels beside her. How she never had a hangover was beyond me.

So I sat alone for awhile until Gajeel decided to come over and tried to get to do body shots with him.

"Fuck no," I said staring at him like he was crazy.

"Oh, come on, bunny. It would probably be the only chance you'll get to put your lips on my body gorgeous body." Gajeel said with a smirk planted on his face as he wiggled his eyebrows and gestured down to his open shirt showing off his well defined six pack and black happy trail. "Come _on_ bunny, you know you want to."

"Actually, I don't. But you want to know who I think does? Levy, you should go and ask her. I'm sure she'd just love doing body shots with you, Jeel. Can't you just imagine it? Levy, slowly making her way up your toned stomach. You stare down at her as she licked up all the salt with her tongue, her large eyes looking into yours-"

"Fuck," I laughed, I knew just how to get to him.

Gajeel stood up, taking the shot glasses with him as he made his way over to his blue-haired target. I laughed loudly yelling words of encouragement, which earned me a loud, 'fuck you', and a finger from him making me laugh some more.

That's when I noticed it. Natsu's eyes were watching the exchange between Gajeel and I. Then his dark green eyes softened as they met mine. He had this look on his face as if he wanted to talk to me. His lip was sticking out slightly and he gave me that look. How to explain it, well, it was the most pathetic look I've ever seen Natsu wear. But it was also kinda cute. I ignored it and went back to my glass of water taking a great interest in the design on the porcelain cup.

That didn't stop him from staring at me, though. I could literally _feel_ his eyes on me. True enough when I looked up he was there sitting at the counter, just staring at me with that damn look on his face.

Every time.

It was starting to creep me out so I decide to go, saying goodbye to Jeel he was sitting in between a blushing Levy's legs around a circle of our friends, (Jet, Droy, Laxus, Elfman, Freed, ect.) as he talked to Erza and Gray. I had to wait a moment for them to stop laughing to say goodbye. Then was nagged by a drunk Erza and Levy to stay but I declined. I didn't to be the only sober one here so, I quickly exited the guild. By the way he kept staring at me, I thought that Natsu was going to follow me back to my house. When he didn't appear I wondered if he was already at my apartment. Once I got there I ordered Virgo out of the celestial world.

"Yes, Princess, punishment time?" Virgo asked eagerly.

"What? No, can you go and check if Natsu or Happy is in my apartment for me?"

She nodded before disappearing for a second. A few minutes later she reappeared saying that the coast was clear.

"Thanks, you can go now if you want. I'm just going to go to bed, today wore me out." I said walking up the steps.

"Punishment?"

"Next time, Virgo," I threw over my shoulder she smiled before disappearing.

I smiled as I looked into my apartment and the pin haired moron was nowhere in sight. I changed and went over to my bed to fall asleep.

I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling trying to go to sleep, but I had too much on my mind to even comprehend the word sleep at this moment. I glanced over at my clock looking at the time. It was three o'clock in the morning by now and I left the guild at eleven. I've spent four hours trying to get to sleep out success. The same thoughts kept repeating themselves in my mind over, and over again.

 _'Why didn't I notice he was upset?'_

 _'Why didn't I put up more effort to go after him?'_

 _'Could I do the same?'_

No, I couldn't, I couldn't leave Fairy Tail for more than three years with no contact no matter what. So why had Natsu? I've been with Fairy Tail for almost four years now. Natsu's been with them for all of his life other than the years with Igneel. So why?

I thought back to the day that Natsu had left and what had happened that day.

 **(FLASHBACK START)**

 _The sun was shining as we hopped off the train and I breathed in the fresh air of the countryside. It was beautiful here, clear blue skies, and amazing scenery. It had the perfect atmosphere for me to write my novel. Quiet and peaceful._

 _"I'm hungry!" A certain pink haired dragon slayer yelled, stretching out his back. "Come on Happy, let's go and find food!"_

 _"Aye, sir!" Happy replied and they began to run off, a dust trail in their wake._

 _Erza sighed from beside me looking towards the direction they had left in. "Well it's for the best, this is a very delicate mission after all."_

 _"What are we doing here anyways?" Gray asked from beside me. I turned to look at him and thanked Mavis for him being fully clothed._

 _"Were on an S-Class mission of high importance," Erza replied, "I didn't want to tell Natsu knowing he'd find a way to screw it up."_

 _"Wait, what! We're on an S-Class mission, out here?" I said looking around the peaceful scenery. What could such a place be hiding?_

 _"Yes, a very special mission from Master Makarov himself. I suppose many other guilds will be here as well." Erza noted._

 _My jaw dropped wait, what? How important was this mission?_

 _"So are we like protecting something?" Gray asked now shirtless, Erza nodded. "Good job sending Natsu away then, Mavis knows how he can't protect anything without property damage."_

 _"Even so, we'll need him for tonight."_

 _Later on that night we finally found out what we were doing. We were guarding a party. Yet, from what Erza told us, everyone here was a government official from countries all across the world and if one of them got hurt than Fiore would be in trouble._

 _Natsu still hadn't figured out that this was an S-Class mission and was complaining about being bored as he and I guarded the entrance. Erza and Gray were inside pretending to be guests inside._

 _We were outside for a few hours making small talk before Natsu said he had to use the bathroom._

" _Can't you hold it?" I asked as I watched Natsu sway back and force his legs crossed together._

" _Does I look like I can hold it? Please, Luce, I promise I won't be gone long! I'll be back so fast you wouldn't even know I was gone!"_

 _Nothing was happening so far and I doubt anything would. It couldn't hurt if he was gone for a few minutes. I sighed and gave him a slight nod and he was off._

" _Thanks, Luce!" he yelled._

 _The party was over and Natsu still hadn't returned yet. I was beginning to get worried about him when Erza and Gray walked out._

" _Hey, Erza, Gray have you seen Natsu?" I asked them._

 _Era frowned,"What do you mean, is he lost?"_

" _HEY LUCY YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT I FOUND!" Natsu yelled running towards us something cupped in his hands. "LOOK!"_

 _He was closer now, and I could see something small and brown in his hands. He stopped right in front of me thrusting the thing in my face. My eyes focused on the small creature and I smiled bring my hand up to stroke the creature's head. It was a small brown bunny with large pointy ears sticking straight up in the air. It's eyes were a dark blue color and were widened most likely fear or shock. It was just a baby barely bigger than his hands. Natsu had a large grin on his face as I began to coo at the small bunny. It was so cute!_

" _Where did you find a rabbit?" Gray asked leaning over my shoulder to get a better look at the animal._

" _I got done using the bathroom when I heard something in the bushes. Thinking it was one of the people we're supposed to defend against I took off after it. It turns out that it was a bunny and I took it back here for you to see, Lucy. I thought you might like it." Natsu smiled at me, his sharp fangs showing. I blushed looking back down at the bunny. "It took me forever to catch, sorry 'bout that."_

 _We stood there for a while longer before the bunny bit Natsu and he dropped it and it took off into the woods. We all laughed making Natsu pout all the way back to the hotel._

 _The next day we were about to leave on the train, but Natsu hadn't showed up. Nobody had seen him all morning, not even Happy._

" _Where is he?" Erza mumbled looking out the window of the train. "I'll kill him if he doesn't show."_

" _I bet he went off to catch Lucy another one of those rabbits," Gray teased and I swatted at him blushing slightly._

" _No, he didn't!" I yelled._

" _Yeah, why would he catch Lucy a bunny when he could catch me some fish?" Happy said, drooling slightly._

" _LAST CALL FOR MAGNOLIA STATION. LAST CALL FOR MAGNOLIA STATION." The announcer said._

" _God damn it," Erza said standing up, "Come on, we have to go and find that dimwit so I can kick his ass."_

" _Who's ass?" a voice said from behind her. Turning around there was Natsu an unreadable expression on his face._

" _Where the hell were you?" Gray asked._

" _Did you bring fish?"_

 _Natsu's eyes seemed to hardened, and opened his mouth to speak but was cut off as the train began to move. His eyes bulged and his hands flew to his mouth to hold in anything that came out. Erza and Gray moved him over to the empty spot next to me and went back to their seats._

 _The ride was quiet no one really saying anything. Natsu was now asleep draped over my lap and I ran my fingers through his hair. Natsu woke up not long before the train stopped but when it did stop he took off running out of the train._

" _Natsu!" I yelled running to try and catch up with him, but he was too far ahead. "NATSU!"_

 **(FLASHBACK END)**

Is the reason why he left because whatever he was doing that morning? My head swirled with questions when all I wanted was to just go to sleep. All of this stuff could wait until the morning. Groaning, I rolled around in my bed burying my face into my pillow, my hands stretching out under it. I felt something soft against them. Grasping it, I pulled it out and looked at the object in my hands. It was white and checkered. It kind of looked like dragon scales.

Natsu's scarf.

He must of forgotten to put it back on this morning after kicked him out. He wanted to talk to me that badly that he left the most prized possession he owned, the scarf his deceased dad left him. Emotions started to flow through me in waves. I felt sad, lonely, frustrated, angry. I looked at the scarf, before angrily throwing it at the ground. I got out of bed going over to stomp on it.

I let out a frustrated growl as I began to stomp on it harder. "Why did you leave, Natsu! Was getting more powerful more important to you than your family?!"

By the time I was done I was panting.I looked around the room for Natsu's scarf. I had kicked it a little in my temper tantrum and it was now over by the dining table. I bent down picking it up dusting it off. I cradle it to my chest instantly feeling bad what I did, but I couldn't help it. Once anger setting I couldn't stop myself. I walked back over to my bed laying down, pulling the scarf to my face.

It smelt just like Natsu.

 **NATSU DRAGNEEL**

I watched Lucy walk out of the guild hall, feeling sorry for myself. Everyone here had forgiven me but Lucy and a handful of others. Mostly Gray, Gajeel, Levy, Juvia (mostly because of Gray not forgiving me), and some others. I didn't care if they forgave me or not. I turned towards Mira ordering a drink. I was down to my seventh when Gray stumbled over to me pushing me making my drink spill everywhere.

"What the fuck was that for?" I yelled at him picking up the cup, downing the remains of the alcohol.

"I don't get you." Gray slurred, "The Natsu I know would have already punched me by now."

I glared at him ordering another drink from Mira. I put the drink to my mouth to only have it knocked out of my hands by Gray. I was standing now, looking him straight into the eye.

"Do you know what I think? I think you're an imposter, I mean look at this," He said gesturing to my long salmon-colored locks of hair. "The Natsu I know would never grow out his hair this long. And where's your scarf, huh? Oh! I know! You left it behind like all the friends you left here, right?" I flinched slightly at his cold words. "So my question is who are you? Are you some fucking follower of that bastard Zeref that he sent to fuck with this guild? If so I-"

Before he could even finish his sentence I was on top of him punching his face over and over again. I heard the screams for me to stop but I didn't all I was seeing was red.

How _dare_ he accuse me of being a follower of that fucking murder. I felt hands grab ahold of me yanking me away from Gray. I fought against them wanting to go back and continue to beat the shit out of him. I broke free of them for a moment and lunged for Gray again but was caught again only to be restrained by more hands, tackling me to the ground. I fought against them again I threw some of them off of me getting up again before their voices reached me. Everyone was screaming at once.

"Calm down Natsu!"

"What the hell has gotten into you, man?"

"Wendy, go and help Gray!"

I started to calm down and my vision cleared. I saw Gray laying on the floor beaten and bloodied. Wendy rushed over and began to heal his wounds and Juvia was glaring at me hate in her eyes. Everyone else was staring at me in shock.

"I'm good," I mumbled when the people holding me hostage didn't release I tried again louder. "I'm alright now, you can let me go."

It took them a few seconds before the seen me. I turned around and saw Erza, Gajeel, Mira, Elfman, Jet, and Droy standing behind me looking at me just like all the others.

' _It only took six of them huh,'_ I thought, ' _Iraneth would not be impressed.'_

"What the fuck man?" Jet said, "Why the fuck did you do that to Gray?"

I didn't answer him but walked over to Gray. From the corner of my eye, I saw everyone tense up, getting ready to pounce on me at any time. I leaned over Wendy looking Gray in the eye that wasn't swollen.

"If you _ever_ compare me to that monster ever again I will kill you do you understand? I am _nothing_ like him." And with that I walked out of the guild and down the road.

I didn't even know where I was going until I was outside her house peering up at her window. I jumped up, my hands landing on the ledge of her window, I pulled it open and peered at her sleeping face. She looked peaceful like she had no worries in the world. I knew that wasn't true, though. I was one of those worries. I stared at her longer noticing that she held my scarf to her chest. Normally I would freak out if somebody had my scarf but seeing Lucy with it gave me some sense of hope? Pride? I couldn't pinpoint the exact emotion but seeing Lucy laying there reminded me of Erza's words.

' _I'd start with Lucy,'_

With Lucy, huh. Well, that seems as good a place as ever.

I finally went into her apartment landing on the bed slightly making sure not to move to much as I closed the window and got under the blankets beside her. I wrapped my arms around her like I used to pulling her close to my body, inhaling her scent.

She smelt so good.

I felt my eyes drifting shut and I let them. I had a hectic day today and sleep sounded like a good option right now.

So, I let myself fall asleep next to her.

 **a/n: OHHH SHIT WENT DOWN! Honestly, I didn't even plan for them to fight each other until later. That was just a spur of the moment type thing. ANYWAYS! BACK ON TASK!**

 **Hey guys, tell me what you thought about this chapter. Oh, and by the way, Makarov's the only one so far who knows that Natsu's Zeref's brother. If you have any questions I'll answer them next chapter so don't be scared to ask. I even give out MINOR spoilers so if it's not a major one I'll answer it, but I'll do privately in case some people mind spoilers**


	7. 06

**06.**

 **NATSU DRAGNEEL**

There was a loud banging sound at the front door causing Lucy to stir from within my arms. I let out a light growl hoping the blond haired girl wouldn't wake up. The banging had only gotten louder and more persistent the longer it went unattended. I was tempted to just walk over there and scream at the person behind the door and fall back asleep by an undisturbed Lucy, but it useless. Her house was so open the noise would have been loud anyways. I mean the only doors in this place was her bathroom, front door, and kitchen. She really needs to save up for a new apartment. Or a house even. She could always just move in with Happy and me and never have to worry about rent money. That is if she wanted to I sure Happy wouldn't mind, he loves her. Some days he loves her more than me.

I was brought out of my thoughts when I felt her stir within my arms. Her breathing began to pick up speed meaning she was waking up. I reluctantly unwrapped my arms from around her rolling over in bed. Sitting up in bed looking down at her one last time deciding to leave my scarf with her and come back for it later. I sat up ignoring the pounding in my head and hopped out the window and make my way back the guild.

As I entered the guild and it was as loud and as rowdy as ever. People were throwing chairs, Cana had a pile of barrels next to her as she kept chugging one, and Mira was behind the bar serving people like always. It didn't seem like Fairy Tail had changed much. Well, that's what I liked to tell myself at least. I knew the reality was much different from the little bit Lucy had told me. I looked around and spotted Happy next to Carla trying to get her to talk to him.

I walked over to him a smile on my face, "Hey little buddy!"

Happy turned his head towards me a gloomy expression on his face. "Hey Natsu,"

I looked over to the white haired exceed that had her back to Happy not even looking at the fish right next to her. "Still not talking to you?"

Happy nodded his head looking over at her longingly. I felt sorry for him wanting her to forgive him so much he'd probably shave off every last inch of his fur just to get a glance from her, chop off an arm to get a few words from her, rip out his heart to get a kiss. I knew because I was in the same boat as him with my Lucy drama.

I sighed looking at Mira, "Hey can I have something to drink, Mira?"

Mira nodded filling up a cup of water for me. I frowned wondering why I wasn't getting alcohol. I decided not to push the subject and just took the glass from her taking a sip. I rested my head against the cold glass hoping to ease the throbbing in my head. I really shouldn't have drank last night. Hell, I didn't even remember most of last night.

"A headache?" I heard a female voice say from beside me. I turned to see a red-haired mage standing beside me. I nodded to her closing my eyes again. "Well, I could imagine you would have a hangover after how much you drank last night. You never used to drink that much before. I mean what you did last night whatever you guys talked about in Master's office must of really stressed you out"

' _Or, it's blond haired girl you missed and haven't seen in over three years not even pay attention to you.'_

"Yeah, something like that,"

When Erza spoke again it was no longer that playfully mocking tone it was serious and cold. "Natsu, you should really learn to take your anger out in some other way than fighting."

I opened my eyes again staring at her curiously, "What happened last night exactly. I don't remember much."

Erza was quiet as she stared at me to see if I was actually telling the truth. A minute later she let out a sigh. "You should get Lucy to cut your hair today. We'll start training for the trip to Bellum as soon as Gray shows up."

She stood and made her away from me and out the guild doors, ' _What's her problem?'_

I turned to Mira wondering what I did exactly, "Mira, what did I do last night?"

Mira's, as usual, smiling face fell as she thought about last night. "Nothing much, you and Gray got into a fight like usual."

Happy raised an eye, "Yeah, and you totally kicked his butt! It had to take Erza, Gajeel, Mira, Elfman, Jet, _and_ Droy to take you off of him and restrain you. Well, Droy should count as three but still, I'm not going to lie, I thought it would have taken more considering what Iraneth made you do every day."The memory of me lifting up boulders and carrying them around for hours popped into my head making me shiver. It was a back-breaking memory I would never like to repeat again.

"Sucks that I can't remember it," I say, leaning back on the stool. I said my good-byes to Mira and the others before I made my way down the road to Lucy's place.

I think it's about time to get a haircut.

 **a/n: I know that this is like really, really,** _ **really**_ **short and like years away from when it should have been updated, but I have reasonable excuses I promise. I'm sure you wouldn't like to read them so I'm not going to waste my time putting them here. Also, I'll have a chapter up by Friday. Pinky swear.**


	8. 07

**07.**

 **LUCY HEARTFILIA**

Erza, Gajeel, Wendy, Gray, Natsu, and I were all standing in an open field by Fairy Hills training for the mission. We decided to train in pairs and I was really hoping to train with Gajeel, but when Erza made the pairs I just so happened to get stuck with the pink haired moron.

I currently was in my Leo Star Dress form, **(** which is a elegant, black ball gown that has a slit up my left leg and is tied with a gold sash that sits at my hips. Leo's zodiac sign is on my right breast proving that I'm in Star Dress) my strongest and fastest Star Dress I have. I stood a few steps away from him looking at the ground avoiding eye contact.

 **(Just in case none of you read the manga and don't know what Star Dress is: Star Dress is an ability Lucy gets where putting the celestial key on her chest she gains the clothing and abilities of that spirit. It also adds to her Magic Power to do high level spells.)**

"Alright Lucy," Natsu said standing in front of me, I looked up as he ran a hand down his now short hair. "I want you to hit me."

I look at him bewildered shaking my head fast.

"Oh come on Luce," he says to me a toothy smile on his face. "It's not going to kill you to at least try and hit me."

He stood in a relaxed position; his hands dangling at his sides, his stance casual. Yet that stupid little smile of his was still on his lips throughout the whole thing.

I shook my head no again.

Natsu let out a sigh, his smile totally gone from his face. "Lucy this is important. How many battles have you been in that you've lost your whip or your keys?" I stayed quiet."Exactly, each and every time you've left yourself defenseless, with no protection."

"He's got a point," Erza said from behind me. I turned to look at her she stood with her arms crossed a crossed her chest. "You've managed to become completely defenseless in some of your battles. I think learning some hand-on-hand combat will be good for you."

I let out a small sigh. It was true what they said. Sometimes I do get without anyway to protect myself. "Alright, fine, I'll do it."

I turn back to Natsu raising my fist up. He wanted me to hit him right. Well, here go nothing. I swung my fist in what a fist should have looked like straight at Natsu. He caught it without any trouble at all.

"What the hell was that suppose to be?" Natsu asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders. Natsu let out a sigh, walking closer to me. "You need to focus, Lucy. I'm serious here."

 _Wow, for once in your life you're being serious! Would you like an award? Maybe a pat on the back?_

I pull my arm back to punch him again, but he easily deflects it. Then, I try again, and again, and again, and again each time with the same results.

"You're not even trying, Lucy. Come on, I'm serious here. Hit me like you mean it."

 _I'll show you serious._

I pull my arm back with more intensity, ready to try harder this time, when Natsu stops me. He grabs my elbow. Shakes it a little. "What do you think you're doing? You do not need to lift your elbow up to your ear. That'll give your opponent some idea of what you're about to do," he says. "The impact should be unexpected."

I try again and I manage to at least land a punch on his shoulder.

"Good, that's better." Natsu said nodding in approval. "Now, you need to work on keeping your arms up. If your hands are down towards your chest than you leave your face open. Got it?"

I nod, putting my hands towards my face. I start to punch him slowly at first then up more force behind each one until I'm punching him as hard as I could. Natsu, of course, is blocking each one with ease, his movements fluid and relaxed. I try harder really wanting to punch him now. I knew he was trying to make me mad, trying to make me really want to hurt him. So I gave in to my emotions of anger and hatred for him.

I swing with my right hand.

He blocks.

I swing with my left hand.

He blocks.

His hands are made out of an impenetrable stone as he keeps pushing my fists aside. My anger is just boiling up and I want to scream. Gray calls out Natsu's name which makes him turn his face towards him. I take full advantage of this and swing my fist towards his face.

You know when you're about to do something really stupid, but don't realise it's a bad idea until the second before you do it and it's too late to stop yourself? Yeah, well, now was one of those times. My fist seemed to move in slow motion in front of me going straight for Natsu's jaw. at first it looked like I was going to actually hit him. In that moment I was excited that I was going to hit him make him feel the pain of my frustration. I felt a sense of pleasure knowing that my fist was going to make contact with his tanned skin. What a single moment can do to you. They can make you happy, or it can make you absolutely shocked.

Natsu lifted up his hand with inhuman speed and caught my fist in his bare hand. The field was silent for a second as Natsu slowly turned his head to look at my fist in his hand then at me. His expression was blank, eyes cut off. I couldn't see what he was thinking. He looked at me then over towards Gray's direction.

"Hey, Gray! What the fuck was that for? Trying to pick a fight?" Natsu yelled out, releasing my hand and turning around to face the half-naked ice make wizard. "I heard I kicked your ass last time so I'd watch it if I were you!"

Wait, what? Wasn't he mad at me for trying to punch him when he's not paying attention? Shouldn't he be yelling at me instead of Gray?

"Oh, shut the fuck up you fucking pyro! It was only because I was drunk!" Gray yelled back.

"You wanna go?!"

"I'm already going, ICE MAKE LANCE!"

"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"

I turned away from the fight making my way over to where Erza, Wendy, and Gajeel were standing with the exceeds. They were watching the battle between the two. I stood next to Gajeel bumping him with my shoulder.

"Hey Bunny," Gajeel said not taking his eyes off the fight.

"Hey Jeel," I replied. I brought my sore arms up to my chest, crossing them and rubbing each one of the red forearms with a hand.

I didn't look at him, keeping my eyes on the fight which Natsu seemed to be holding back in. catching my fist like that, I knew he could do better than what he's doing now and that first night he let Gray punch him. My eyes widen at the sudden realisation. Why would he let Gray punch him? I thought back to the moment Gray ran at Natsu. Gray was so fast Natsu shouldn't have been able to block, but he blocked my hand which was going super fast. And I was using my Leo star dress, my fastest spirit. So it made no sense that Gray could hit him and I couldn't.

"Hey Bunny, you alright?" Gajeel asked eyes still on the fight. I snapped my head towards him taken back by his voice all the sudden.

"Oh, yeah, sorry Jeel. Just lost in thought."

"Thinking about earlier?" Gajeel turned away from the fight, looking at me. "I never took you for one to go for cheap shots, Bunny."

"Yeah, Natsu was making me so angry. I couldn't help myself. An opportunity presented itself and I went for it. It was stupid."

"It was stupid," Gajeel parroted, "I don't know what Salamander was thinking."

Gajeel placed a hand on my shoulder turning me towards him making me look straight into his eyes. "You're not like Salamander, you don't fight better when you're angry. Hell, I don't think anyone does, but him. So listen to me Lucy, I only want to only say this once."

Gajeel never calls me by my actual name. Never. He's always referred to me as bunny girl or bunny. "Fighting while angry makes you stupid, predictable, and weak. Never do it. Do you understand me? You always want to go into a fight with a level head to keep your head. Anything else you'll come out dead. No one wants to see you dead Bunny, me most of all.

Gajeel paused his red eyes never leaving was so much unspoken emotion in them. I could see how much the the thought of me dying troubled and pained him. The feeling was mutual. The thought of Gajeel dying, never getting to talk to him again. Make fun of people with him again. it put an ache in my chest.

"HEY GAJEEL STOP FLIRTING WITH LUCY AND GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND HELP ME TAKE DOWN THIS BASTARD !" A certain ice mage yelled ruining the moment.

I turned away from Gajeel, a blush creeping up on my cheeks. I looked over to Gray seeing Natsu with his hands behind his back, dodging everyone one of Gray's moves a smile on his face. He turned towards me, smiling wider giving me a wink before jumping over Gray and smacking him in the back of the head. Gray let out a frustrated yell only making Natsu's grin become an open smile showing off his long fang like canine teeth.

"You really need, his help Ice Prink? What can't beat me yourself?" Natsu taunted.

"GAJEEL!"

"Alright give me a second!" Gajeel screamed back, giving me one last glance before heading over to help out Gray.

Gajeel tried to catch Natsu, but he couldn't making him get as frustrated as Gray. He began to cuss out Natsu giving him death threats and such. Natsu went a little harder on Gajeel than Gray sending him numerous hits to the back and dodging out of the way before he could hit him.

The whole time a smile never left his face.

 **a/n: HEY GUYS it's Friday by the way. So update! There might be another update today because I'm almost finished with chapter eight. SPOILER ALERT! There's going to be a major Nalu moment in it so yeah! Review if yah want if not that's cool too**


	9. 08

**08.**

 **NATSU DRAGNEEL**

I've finally found it; a way to get Lucy to forgive me. Well, I can't take all the credit. Happy was actually the one who thought of it. It was perfect too. We even had Erza in on it. The plan was bound to work. So why was I hesitating? If it would get Lucy away from Metal Face and back to hanging out with me then I should already have swallowed the thing without thinking, but maybe it was the thought of the consequential effects that would come with it.

"What's taking you so long, Natsu? They're going to come for us in a minute." Happy's high pitched voice nagged.

I wanted so badly to snap at him and tell him I'll take my damn time, but I know he's right. Gajeel and Wendy would smell it if I didn't hurry up. It would smell toxic to them of course. It wasn't for their element. This whole plan will be ruined if they found out. Especially stupid Gajeel. He'd know something was up then.

"Yeah, I know," I said, taking a deep breath before bring it to my face. The smell itself wasn't vile. It actually smelt really good. Like a mixture of dragon's fire and honey. But, I knew what it would do to me over the next few days. In the long run it would be better if I ate them now rather than later.

Letting out a shaky breath I placed the tip of the roots onto my mouth. Just the tiniest bit on my tongue made me want to eat more. I moaned at the pleasurable taste. It tasted so good. I grabbed another two from Happy quickly scarfing them down.

"Natsu," Happy said worriedly. I've never eaten that much at once before.

"I'll be fine Happy." I assured him. "But, Iraneth said-"

"I'll be okay, Iraneth also said I could eat more at a time the longer I've been eating them. The effects won't be pretty, but they won't be really bad either." I explained, he didn't look convinced, but there was nothing we could do now. I could already feel the effects working on my body.

We made our way out of the alley and over to the train station. We quickly made it over to the others with time to spare. I caught Erza's questioning gaze and I nodded implying it as done. Now it was her turn to follow through on her end.

"Come on guys! I call sitting by the window!" Wendy's voice rang out to us.

Happy and shared a look before walking over the train, and following her on.

 _Well, here goes nothing. I really hope this works, Happy._

 **LUCY HEARTFILIA**

It's been a week since Natsu's and Happy's return and we were currently on a train our way to Bullem. It would take us three days to get there and we've already been traveling for one. I had forgotten how much traveling sucked. It was exhausting.

I still hadn't really spoke with Natsu or Happy other than a few words during our training and when I had Cancer cut Natsu's hair. To say I was still angry with them wouldn't be the correct thing to say. I really wanted to forgive Natsu I did, but every time I tried to talk to him something always got in the way. Whether it was Gajeel wanting to hang out, or Gray wanting to test his new moves on me. The conversation with Natsu was always put off. I finally decided to just stop trying to talk to him. If fate wanted us to speech to each other then it would let us. Even so, that didn't stop me from wanting to talk to Natsu.

I sighed glancing from my stop on the train over to where the pink haired devil was sitting. He was crossed the aisle from me, resting his head on the window, doing everything he could to prevent from throwing up; his motion sickness getting the best of him. Wendy didn't look any better. She looked greener than ever laying in Erza's lap a bucket right next to her. She'd already thrown up twice. She used to never get motion sickness, but ever since she hit dragon slayer power maturity she'd had it worse than Natsu did when I first met him. Even thinking about riding a train makes her fall to the ground green faced.

I looked over to Gajeel from beside me. He had his head in his hands, trying to look like the moving vehicle didn't bother him. Of course it did, it bothered every dragon slayer even the lacrima dragon slayers. I placed a hand on his back, rubbing up and down gently. I smiled as he looked over at me laughing at his grimace. That was one thing I loved about Gajeel, he always knew how to make me smile.

When I first met Gajeel I thought he was really scary. I mean, he did just get done kicking my ass trying to provoke Natsu. When everyone started going their separate ways and I started to hang out with Jeel more I learned that he's really a big softy. Of course, Levy already knew this and that's why she forgave him so easily. I've seen the way she looks at him, I think they'd be good together. The beauty and the beast. Too bad she isn't on this trip with us.

I turned back to the window resting my head against it watching as scenery passed by. I felt my eyes shut. It wasn't long before the feel my eyes shutting, letting the moving train lull me into it's soothing soundless slumber.

"Ah, thank god!" Wendy said as the train stopped running off as fast as she could. The other two weren't that far behind her, racing out of the train as fast as the could. Erza, Gray, the exceeds, and I were slower coming out of the train grabbing our things on the way out.

We were in a city called Jangeria in the country of Stellia. The city itself wasn't that big, yet the architecture was amazing. It was nothing like Fiore, ost of the buildings were made of a golden stone and a had beautify swirling designs on each one of the buildings. Trees and other plants were everywhere around each building, man made waterfalls and water fountains were everywhere. Adding in the clear blue sky it had to be one of the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Were most of the country was just desert land, this place lived and strives with beauty. It reminded me of an Oasis in the middle of a desert. Where, many creatures, or people rather, live and strive; where the plants were green and full of life against the harsh, humid weather. It was hard to believe a place like this exists.

"Wow," I said speaking to myself as I looked all around me. "It's so beautiful here."

"Well, that is to be expected." Erza said from beside me. "Jangeria is know for it's beauty. There's a rather large natural underground river running under the town. They use different pipes to bring the water to the plants here to make them green."

' _That makes sense.'_ I thought as I looked around. ' _I really hope Natsu doesn't destroy this place.'_

"Well, we should get going and find a hotel to stay in." Erza said, Gray agreed and started to take off to find a cheap hotel.

"Hey, aren't you missing something?" Carla's voice rang.

I turned back and looked at the three dragon slayers laying in a heap on the ground. I walked over to them grabbing Wendy by the arm, helping Carla carry her. I did the same with Gajeel and Lily, but when it came to Happy her was more reluctant than the other, more loyal, exceeds.

"Oh, come on, Happy. Why won't you carry Natsu?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Have you ever tried to carry Natsu when he's like this? He drools and I'll get that all over me! Carla definitely won't like my fish then!" Happy tried to reason.

I sighed looking over to the other dragon slayer and their exceeds. Gajeel and Wendy already seemed to be doing fine, getting over their motion sickness. Natsu was the only one who still looked green and slimey.

"Fine," I said, walking over and throwing Natsu's arm over my shoulder, lifting him up.

It was a lot harder to pick him up then I anticipated, making me topple over with him on top of me the first few times. I groaned, pushing him off, trying again this time I was ready for the weight. I had to give Happy props for carrying Natsu around all the time.

"Alright," I huffed, shifting his weight. "Let's go,"

We went to the nearest hotel, which happened to be the most expensive, and got a room. we only got three rooms with two beds each. It was enough for the one of the dragon slayers and their exceed to share a bed along with either Gray, me, or erza. I was really hoping I would get to share a room with Gajeel, not Natsu.

"Now," Erza said, standing in the hallway in front of the first room. "The rooms we're sharing are going to be with whoever you're standing by right now. So that means, Wendy, Carla and I are sharing a room. Gray, Gajeel, and Pantherlily are going to be sharing a room. And Natsu, Happy, and Lucy are going to be sharing a room."

"But-" I opened my mouth to object, but Erza shoved a key in my hand before I could get more than a word out.

I looked over to Gajeel for help, "Hey, shouldn't a girl and a girl be sleeping in the same room? Why is bunny sleeping in the same room as flame for brains here? Aren't girls supposed to sleep with girls?"

Erza smiled, an evil glint in her eyes. "Well, Natsu and Lucy have been partners for years and have already slept in the same room while on missions together. Besides, even if they weren't partners we have an odd number of girls anyways. So one of us would have to share a room with one of you boys."

Erza slowly walked over to Gajeel making him back up into the wall. She leaned up into his ear whispering just loud enough for the rest of us to hear. "You know, instead of Natsu and Lucy sharing a room we could work out different sleeping arrangements."

She ran her hand down his chest stopping just before the waistband of his pants, sliding her thumb in. By now Gajeel's face was beet red from blushing so hard. He grabbed Erza hand away from him and put it back down to her side.

"Um-uh….yeah-well, um….uh….no thanks." He glanced over at me with pleading eyes, not knowing what to do.

I really wished I had a camera right about now. By now I was trying my hardest trying not to laugh, but I couldn't help it. I let out a loud laugh, shaking both mine and Natsu's body. Tears started to form in my eyes from the laughter and began to run down my face. Just as I started to settle down I took another look at Gajeel's face and started all over again.

Gajeel let out a loud huff, snatching the keys from Erza's awaiting hand and stomping off towards his bedroom.

"Gajeel," I giggled, "Come on, don't be mad. It was funny!" I managed between giggles.

He didn't stop, only picked up his pace towards his bedroom. I tried to hobble after him, but Natsu's dead weight stopped me.

"I'd leave him and get Natsu to bed." Wendy said from behind me, looking at Natsu worriedly. "I've never seen him with his motion sickness this bad before."

I had to agree with Wendy, Natsu looked horrible. His face had a slight green tint to it, and a small sweat had breakin out on his skin. His face was in a way that made him seem like he was in a lot of pain. It made him look worse than horrible, actually. He looked like he was going to die.

"Yeah, come on Happy, let's get Natsu into bed. See you later, Wendy!" I threw over my shoulder following Happy towards our room for the night, handing him the keys to get in.

I followed Happy into the open room, setting Natsu down on the first bed I seen. I let out a huff, looking down at Natsu. He was positioned on the bed at an odd angle. I went over and fixed him so he was laying straight under the blankets.

I took a second to look around the room. It wasn't that big; it only had two beds, a small kitchen area, a little wardrobe, and a door to what I assumed was the bathroom. I imagined Erza and Wendy had the biggest room while Natsu and I had the smallest room.

"Probably so he won't break a lot of things." I mumbled.

"What did you say, Lushy?" Happy asked.

"Nothing," I said, turning around to look at the blue exceed. He was sitting next to Natsu on the bed, a strange look on his face. "How's Natsu doing?"

Happy didn't turn to me as he spoke. "Not good. He's never had his motion sickness this long before. I think there's something wrong with him. Really wrong Lucy."

Happy finally turned his face to me. There were tears were tears in his eyes threatening to leak out. I frowned, looking down at Natsu. "I'm sure he'll be fine, Happy. Just needs rest is all."

"Yeah, if you say so."

We sat in silence for a while, not a word being said between us. I went over pulling up a chair beside Natsu's bed.

"Lucy, can I ask you a question?"

I turned my head towards the little blue exceed with a questioning gaze. He didn't turn away from Natsu as he spoke so I couldn't figure out just by looking at him what was up.

"Yeah Happy, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Do you hate Natsu and me?" I was taken back from his choice of questions.

Did I hate them? I thought I made that answer obvious. How could I hate them after all we've been through together? Even if they did leave for a while and didn't tell me about it I still couldn't find the strength to hate them even though I tried, and tried. I never managed to actually hate them. For a while I thought I did, but I soon realized that emotion was misnamed for anger.

"No," I whispered, "No, I don't hate you, Happy. I was angry and sad for a very, very long time about you two leaving me. I was hurt because I thought you two didn't care about me like I cared about you two. I was so close to you guys. When you two were around it was like all the bad things in my life disappeared, vanished like they never happened in the first place. It felt like, it felt like my parents weren't dead after all. Like, I wasn't completely alone in the world. Like I had a family again. Even though Fairy Tail is my family you and Natsu were like my family inside a much larger ones I was the closest to. And when you two were gone." I paused letting out a shaky breath, trying push the feeling of hurt and betrayal from my mind. "But now, no, I'm not angry anymore."

Within seconds of me saying that I felt him through himself into my arms, sobbing into my chest. "I promise I'll never leave you alone again!" He cried out, hugging me tighter "I promise Lucy! Do you believe me? Please, Lushy, say you do!"

"Of course," I said hugging him back.

I fell asleep,

"What's the verdict, Happy? Did you get it out of her?" the unmistakable voice of Natsu rang loudly through the room.

"Shh, Natsu you'll wake her up!" Happy hissed.

"Right, sorry," Natsu whispered. "So did you?"

"Yeah," Happy replied with a defeated voice. "She's not angry with us, but Natsu, I think there's something wrong with her. She...she doesn't seem like her. You know what I mean."

"No, but I'll find out." Came Natsu's reply.

"I'm going to go to bed Natsu. Try and not stay out all night, okay."

"Goodnight, little buddy."

"Goodnight,"

It was a moment or two the room was silent before I felt myself being shaken lightly. I tried to ignore it, trying to hold onto this weird dream I was having, but the shaking wouldn't stop only to be accommodated by my name being called softly.

I opened my eyes to look into a pair of dark green ones and a toothy grin.

"Hey, Luce, get up I want to show you something." Natsu said, stepping away from me.

"Wow, it's good to see you're well enough to bug me. A few hours ago you looked like you were dying." I said, closing my eyes again.

"You'd like that wouldn't you."

"Shh, don't tell anyone it's a secret."

"Come on Lucy, get up. I want to go and do something with you."

"Can't you go do what ever you're doing on your own? You're a big boy I'm sure you can manage."

"Lucy," Natsu whined.

I opened my eyes again and looked over the clock with a frown. It read 3:43 a.m. I looked back over to Natsu with a look that clearly said, 'Why in Mavis name are we going out at three forty in the morning.'

Natsu rolled his eyes holding out a hand. "Don't you trust me? I mean geesh Luce, a number of times I've saved your life I thought you might by now." Natsu teased.

It was my turn to roll my eyes now. Ignoring his hand, I stood up and stretched my back. "So where are we going?"

"You'll see when we get there." Natsu said, leading the way out the door and down the hall out through the front doors of the hotel.

I wanted to laugh. For a moment we were acting like our old selves again. Like, nothing ever happened. I felt my chest start to ache. Shaking my head I followed Natsu blindly to where ever he wanted to go.

We walked through the lit up down, and I stared at it in amazement. Natsu didn't seem fazed by it though. All the fountains were lit up a different shade. Some were yellow while others were a light green color. We never stayed long enough in one spot for me to examine the fountains closely, but I could tell someone put a lot of work into them. It was amazing.

We walked for a while longer until we were out of town and heading towards the woods. We finally stopped outside town on a hill that looked over the brightly lit city. I could see the whole town from up here.

"Wow," I gasped looking down at it. Each part of the town was lit up in different colors changing periodically. One would stay blue for a moment then change to purple.

"I thought you might like it up here. you always were a sucker for these kinds of things." Natsu said staring at the town below us.

"Wait, how did you know about this?" I asked.

"When I was traveling with Iraneth we stopped in a clearing not to far from here. I was getting bored of just hanging out with a dragon and a cat all the time so when they were sleeping I took off and ended up here on this hill." Natsu paused, a small smile on his face. "I stood here for a while staring down at the town for a while until I barged in there demanding to know just what kind of magic was doing that and how they did that. When they said it wasn't doing that by magic I demanded they let out the little people they had trapped inside there. I ended up breaking a few of the fountains to see if there was little people inside of them making the light. They kicked me out of town after that. Well, after they explained that they're not magic at all. In fact, it's these things they invented called, L-E-D lights. They're meant to change color like that. They didn't have little people inside. "

I found myself laughing loudly at his story. It was so him it was funny.

"What?" Natsu asked seemingly innocently, but the small twinkle in his eye and the barely noticeable smirk told me other wise. I finally calmed down and a pregnant silence fell over us.

"It's so beautiful," I said quietly.

"Yeah it is," Natsu replied. I turned towards him to see him facing me already.

I felt a blush creep it's why onto my cheeks and I turned away from him. I felt his hand on my shoulder trying to get me to look at him.

"Lucy, I didn't bring you out here to look at the view. I want to talk to you about something." Natsu said, lightly squeezing my shoulder.

I knew full well what he wanted to talk about.

I kept my gaze on the town, "and what if I don't want to talk to you about _something_?"

"Lucy please," Natsu begged.

He turned me away from the town and towards him. My gaze moved to the ground refusing to look at him. Natsu let out a frustrated huff, putting his thumb under my chin bring my face up to look at him.

"Lucy, I don't want to fight with you. I don't like it and I never have. So can you just talk to me about it? Happy told me you talked to him. I want to know exactly what it was like for you without me. I want to know exactly how I hurt you." Natsu said looking into my eyes.

I pushed away from him, turning around and taking a few steps. "Why so you can go and gloat about it to everyone?"

"No! Of course not! I would never," Natsu took a few steps closer to me turning me back around. "I want to know so I can know how to fix it. I want us to get passed this and go back to being the best friends we used to be. Lucy please, I want to fix this whole," Natsu looked frustrated looking for the right word. After a moment, he let out a sigh forgetting about whatever it was. "This weirdness between us. I want to make it disappear."

"It can't just disappear, Natsu. You aren't a genie. You can't just snap your fingers and make everything go away!" I snapped at him.

"You don't think I know that! Listen, Lucy, I just want to talk. Luce, just talk to me."

I let out a sigh, looking straight into his eyes. He looked so determined, like he actually did want to make it go away. "So you really want to know what it was like for me, huh?"

Natsu nodded his head.

"I was so sad at first, Natsu. So was so upset that you and Happy let us I cried for days. Then I was so angry and frustrated with you two. You let us with no goodbye or anything. Then, for a while I started to get use to you gone. I even started to take jobs with Team Shadow Gear with Erza and Gray. I ranted to Gajeel about you a lot. I ranted mostly how I was the only one who thought you were coming back to us. I also ranted about how I was upset you left us. Gray ranted with me sometimes. Erza mostly stayed out of it though. Then everything changed when the program to switch guilds while still being in your own began. Natsu, that's when everyone started to leave me. I know they didn't think of me or anyone else when they left. They needed to get out and away from the guild for a while. So, I tried to be happy for them about their decision to leave. Gray went first. Then, went Erza. Then went Carla and Wendy. They left me one by one until I was all alone. I've never felt so alone in my life. Even though I had so many people around me everyday I felt I as if I was the only one in the world. I felt so lonely, Natsu. So, so very lonely. I finally convinced myself you weren't coming back so when you did…. "

I hadn't realised the tears were falling until I felt Natsu's hand brush them away.

"Lucy," Natsu whispered.

"And when you did come back my emotions were all jumbled. I didn't know what to think or what to feel about you returning to Magnolia. So I let my emotions be anger. Natsu I wanted to hate you so much for leaving me; for leaving the guild, but I realise I can't hate you Natsu. I can't hate you Natsu and I'm tired of trying."

I felt myself being pushed into Natsu's firm chest. I tried to push away, but I was too weak from my arms shaking so much.

"Shhh, It's alright," Natsu cooed.

I gave up trying to get away and buried my face into the crook of neck crying until I couldn't cry anymore. I cried about Natsu leaving me. I cried about the feelings I still had for him after all this time. I cried about seeing Natsu again. Most of all, I cried out all the feelings I had bottled up inside of me all this time. Finally, when my body shaking sobs stopped Natsu spoke.

"Lucy, I'm so sorry. I don't, I don't know how I can ever make it up to you. I, I'm just so, so sorry Lucy." Natsu's voice shook as he spoke.

I pulled back to see him wiping away the evidence of his own tears. I looked down at his shirt where my head used to lay. It was cover in my tears and snot.

"Well, letting me cry on your shoulder was a start," I said nodding towards it. Natsu's nose wrinkled up as he seen it.

"Gross Luce, like I needed your cooties." He teased, trying to lighten the mood. I rolled eyes. "Now I have to go and change."

"Do you even have another pair of clothes?" I asked.

Natsu rolled his eyes. "Duh Lucy, who do you think I am? Even if I didn't I'm pretty sure I can follow behind Gray and wait for his clothes to just ' _magically'_ fall off like he claims they do."

"to think you'd wear Gray's clothes." I laughed.

Natsu must have caught what I was thinking because he narrowed his eyes saying, "you wouldn't."

"You're right, I wouldn't wear his clothes. You would."

I turned around walking off back towards the town leaning Natsu speechless behind me.

"Hey, Lucy, wait up!"

It didn't take long for Natsu to catch up and we walked beside each other in a comfortable silence. We soon got back to the hotel and went back to our room.

"Hey Lucy," Natsu said, as we got inside. I walked over to my bag grabbing some PJ's and heading off to the bathroom

"Yeah," I replied through the bathroom door, taking off my shoes and getting changed.

"We're going to be in Desierto tomorrow right?" He asked.

"Pretty sure why?" I asked, re-entering the room and walking over to my bed getting under the covers. Natsu walked over to his own bed, being careful of the sleeping Happy.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go and meet someone," He said.

"You mean, that dragon that you trained with, Iraneth."

Natsu nodded, "I told you that when I found Igneel that I'd let you meet him and that didn't happen like I planned. So, I was thinking since Iraneth is Igneel's father he'd be the next best thing. I mean, he is a dragon after all."

"Yeah, I think that would be fun. Maybe we could bring Wendy and Carla along as well. She sounded really jealous the other day that you knew a living dragon and she didn't."

"Yeah, Carla would stop Happy from complaining so much about seeing him again." Natsu agreed.

It was quiet for a moment as Natsu got situated.

"Goodnight Natsu,"

"Goodnight Lucy,"

 **a/n: BOOM! NALU FEELS CHAPTER! Now you get to see what Natsu and Lucy's relationship was like before he left. Other than that bunny scene. I personally like this one much more. Their friendly/flirty banter reminds me of some people I know.**

 **ANYWAYS! Let me know what you think of this chapter and stuffy stuff. It's like a really long chapter too (4809 words not including the a/n to be exact!) Most of the chapters aren't going to be this long. Usually around 2000 words on average. I just had already most most of this then my dad "accidently" erased half of it so yeah. I took some time to redo some of the things I didn't like and add things in. And no, the beginning wasn't added in either. I've had that planned for like a while now.**

 **I wonder how many people actually read really long author's notes? Any who, this is a really long author's note so I'm just going to stop here and now before I tell you my whole life story.**

 **I'm out.**


	10. Hidden Chapter 1: FIRE DRAGON TAIL ROOT

**OKAY, SO I KNOW I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN FOREVER SO FORGIVE ME! (Please?) With the holidays coming up I have family coming over and my father's making my brothers and I clean the shit out of our house so I haven't had time to really sit down and get into my zone to write. I'll probably get back onto a once a week schedule after January-finals month (please, dear god, help me to not crash and burn)**

 _ **Hey! I decided to make these things called Hidden Chapters which are parts of chapters that I've written, but don't really fit in anywhere. I'll periodically post them in any order so they won't always relate to what currently going on in the story. Some of them will be funny and others serious. Some will be long while others are short. It really depends on the scene. Also, message me if you want to know more about a scene along the actual plot line that you thought I hadn't really explained well and I'll try to get around to writing a Hidden Chapter about it.**_

 _ **So anyways,**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

 **HIDDEN CHAPTER #1: FIRE DRAGON TAIL ROOT!**

"Natsu, Natsu, NATSU! YOU HAVE TO GET UP!" Happy screamed at his salmon-haired friend, shaking him violently jolting him awake from his slumber.

"What, I'm up!" Natsu yelled, looking around the clearing they were currently staying at. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary to Natsu so why was Happy waking him up? "What's wrong?"

"It's Iraneth! Natsu, he's acting crazy!" Happy said frantically pointing over to the large shadow in the darkness that was his grandfather. He was hunched over something, laughing madly.

"Iraneth," Natsu mumbled standing up and making his way over to him. "Hey, Iraneth! What are you doing up late at night?"

Iraneth didn't reply, only his loud laughter rang throughout the clearing.

"Iraneth," Natsu tried again.

"Natsu my boy! You must come over here at once and try this! I had though they had burnt it all to the ground hundreds of years ago! Come now," Iraneth said joyfully.

Natsu walked over to the old dragon, looking inside his outstretched palm. Inside lay a bright red root. He sniffed it lightly, only to be engulfed with the second most wonderful scent he's ever smelt. It made his mouth water and feeling of hunger like he's never felt before come with it.

"Oh Mavis, Iraneth. What is it?" Natsu asked licking his lips. It smelt like a mixture of dragon's fire and honey.

"This is, Fire Dragon Tail Root. Only fire dragons and fire dragon slayers can eat it. When eaten, it'll increase the dragon's magic power and flame intensity. The effects, of course, are permanent and there's no limit on how much you can eat before it stops working. I, in fact, have eaten more than thousands of them in my lifetime and my powers have only gotten stronger after each one." Iraneth gloated. He seen Natsu's longing expression and let out a loud laugh. "Of course you can have it, my boy. After all, I did find them for you training."

Natsu looked at it for a moment before he took it in his hand and carefully placed it in his mouth. It tasted even better than it smelt. Natsu let out a small moan as he chewed down on the plant, he wanted to eat these for the rest of his life. He moved his hand to grab more, but Iraneth stopped him.

"Now, Natsu, it's dangerous to eat more than one of them at a time until you get used to it. The side affect can be a bit….contiquental. Even after your first time you'll-" Iraneth said, but Natsu wasn't paying attention to him anymore.

His bones began have a slight ache to them and a sharp pain began pounding itself against his head. He shrugged it off trying to pay attention to what Iraneth was saying, but found it hard to. The ache in his bones along with the pounding in his head began to become more uncomfortable to unbearable as the minutes ticked by.

Natsu let out a groan dropping to the ground, hands clutching the sides of his head. He felt like there was a fire going throughout his entire body- which normally which would be a good thing- I mean, he couldn't get hurt by fire. Natsu liked the feeling of the flames licking at his skins, jumping up and down his arms as they did their dance. He enjoyed the heat they radiated, keeping him warm even out in the freezing cold temperatures and how the heat seemed to frighten his enemies with the feeling of it against their skin. Yes, normally Natsu loved fire in general, but this burning sensation, it was just wrong on so many levels.

Natsu felt like his whole body was being stabbed over and over again. Like some poison had entered his body, dissolving his bones one by one.

His whole body shook violently on the ground as waves of pain crashed inside his body. Natsu, curled up into a fetal position on the ground opening up his mouth and let out a blood curtling scream.

It seemed like ages until the pain finally started to leave Natsu's body and he finally became aware of his surroundings. The sound of running water was the first thing Natsu noticed along with a heavy feeling on his chest. Natsu's eyes-along with his whole body felt like lead weight which he concluded was better than the pain from earlier. He never wanted to do that again.

It took him a while before he was finally able to fully open his eyes. Natsu blinked once, twice as he waited for the blurriness of his vision to clear. It wasn't a long wait as they cleared up soon after. He looked down and seen Happy sleeping on his chest, a frown carved into his face. Blinking, Natsu looked around where he was laying to see that the were in a cave behind a waterfall.

"Oh, so you're finally awake then." Iraneth's voice rang out. Natsu turned his head to see the large red dragon known as his grandfather curled up towards the back of the cave. "You might want to let that cat know you're alive. He hasn't been himself since you went down."

Natsu struggled to sit up only to be met with a sharp pain in his abdomen. He hissed in pain slowly lowering himself to the ground again. "How long has it been?"

"About three days give or take. The root was painful, yes? It's always like that for first timers like you. God, I remember the first time your father had one a few hundred years back! He screamed so loud and was still screaming until he woke up a week later." Iraneth laughed.

"Wait, a week! He was out for a week!" Natsu yelled shocked.

"Yes, it's like that for most dragons. You're the only one I know who's lasted only three days. Most dragons go for weeks if not months." Iraneth sighed, looking up at the cave roof. "Maybe it's because you're one of those human dragons it sped p the effect. The root shouldn't have affected you until a day or two after consumption, but with you the effects happened within minutes of you eating it."

"Is that bad?" Natsu asked.

"I'm not sure," Iraneth replied quietly.

It was silent for a few moments, not a word spoken between them.

"Hey, Iraneth?" Natsu called out, making the older dragon look over towards him.

"Hnn,"

"Can I have some more?"

 **a/n: It's in third period because I felt like writing it that way.**


	11. 09

**09.**

 **NATSU DRAGNEEL**

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I didn't expect last night to go very well. I actually expected it to go really bad. Like Lucy would do her infamous Lucy Kick on me bad. So, I definitely didn't expect Lucy to be happy and cheerful in the morning after our chat. After a week of her not speaking to me and pretending that I didn't exist to how she was acting when we're out at breakfast with the others, it was a big difference. She was smiling happily and laughing at something Happy had said. Not only that, she was sitting next to me and Happy.

Sitting next to _me._ Not that stupid Gajeel. In fact, I can't even remember her speaking to Gajeel this morning. Ha, take that _Jeel._

Can you blame me for being happy? I mean the plan worked. Lucy had forgiven me and had gotten away from that dumbass metal eating bastard.

The best part was that stupid look on his face when she sat next to me at breakfast. He looked like she had eaten the last piece of cake that was meant for him. A mixture of wide eyes and a 'o' shaped mouth. Not to mention that glare he gave to me. And now when Lucy let me rest my head on her lap on our way to Desierto he looked like Lucy had shot in in the chest.

Dear Mavis, it was perfect. Simply perfect.

By this rate they'd (hopefully) stop talking altogether and everything would go back to the way it was before all of this. When it was just Lucy, Happy, and I. Gajeel would leave her alone and go back to doing whatever it was he was doing with Levy before this.

"Natsu?" I heard Lucy's sweet voice call me from my thoughts.

"Huh," I could tell the train hadn't stopped yet by the way my stomach churned.

"How long do you think it'll take to go see Iraneth?" She asked. "Erza wanted to know, so we can estimate how long it'll be till we're in Bellum."

"Maybe, um, uh," I tried to resist the urge to barf. "like half a day maybe. I dunno though, maybe less," God, it was getting worse. "Depends on if you guys want to walk or not."

They agreed they'd like to walk and went off into some side conversation about clothes, and hair. I stopped paying attention after that.

It seemed like hours before the train stopped and we were finally in Desierto.

I felt like I was going to die.

Truefully, I knew Happy was right and shouldn't have taken anymore after taking four the day before, but I had to take the last two for Iraneth to give me more.

I meant what I said when I told Lucy my reason for wanting her to meet Iraneth. I just had other reasons to see him too. Okay, and maybe I didn't want Gajeel to somehow snatch Lucy up while I was gone, reminding her how horrible of a person I am, and making her hate me all over again. I am I really such a bad person for that?

The sound of people leaving the train rang in my ears and I tried to get up only to fall back down onto the seat. My arms felt like jelly and my legs weren't any better.

"Are you coming Natsu?" Lucy asked. I turned to face her seeing her full, pink lips pulled into a frown.

"Yeah," I managed, "I'll be out in a minute."

Lucy seemed reluctant to leave me in this position, but eventually left to catch up with the others. I lay there for a few minutes longer before I got up and off of the cushioned seat and began to make my way off the train. The feelings in my legs were still gone, but I managed to do it.

I got to the exit of the train and was about to get off when I heard someone call out my name.

"Natsu," A gruff voice called out. I let out a sigh, turning around to face him. He stood leaning up against the wall of the train.

"Gajeel," I replied, having as little emotion in my voice as possible.

"Look, I'll say this slowly so your dumb ass self can understand it." Gajeel pushed himself off the wall and walked over to me inches away from my face. "I don't know what you did to Lucy to get her to forgive you-"

"I didn't to anything-"

"And I don't care," He spoke loudly stopping me mid sentence. "but you need to stay away from Lucy. Do you understand me? She's been through one heartbreak already and doesn't need you going in their fucking with her feelings then leaving again."

I felt my blood boil. Who did he think he was telling me that I needed to stay away from her?

"I don't understand why it matters to you who Luce decides to talk to. You're not her Dad, you don't control her. Didn't you try and kill her before? Oh, that's right, you did. So if anybody should be staying away from Lucy it's _you_."

Gajeel's eyes flashed with emotions until they finally landed on one that I could read clearly.

Anger.

Oh yes, he had a lot of it too. Just bubbling up inside of him wanting to come out. His fists were where the build up was happening and I was the outlet. Gajeel pushed me up against the wall, as he tried to control his breathing.

"Listen here," He said leaning in close. "I'll _never, ever_ hurt my bunny girl again. I didn't know anything back then. If I did, I would never have done what I did. Things change when you're gone for three years, kid, she isn't the same girl she was when you left. She's no longer just yours."

Gajeel gave me one last shove before stepping away from me and walking out the door.

 _So that's how you want to do it huh,_ I thought. _Well, if that's how we're going to play it._

 _Game on._

 **GAJEEL REDFOX (Surprise!)**

I stormed off the train catching sight of the others. I closed my eyes taking deep breaths. I needed to calm down. She would ask what was wrong if I walked over there angry. I look a few more deep breaths before walking over and standing next to bunny girl. She gave me a small smile then turned her face back to the entrance of the train with a worried look.

She was worried about _him._ About that fucker who left her for three years without so much as a good-bye. My blood felt like it was boiling from my jealousy. Okay, three years ago everyone knew Natsu and Lucy had a thing. Everyone thought they were going to admit their feelings for each other one day and live happily ever after. Hell, even I thought that. Then that bastard left and break the guilds heart.

He broke her heart.

Now he was back and he thought that everything would be fine between them and they can get back to where they left off. No, I wouldn't let that happen. I was the one who fixed her. I was the one who made her laugh and listened to her when she talked about her problems. I was there when he wasn't.

No, bunny wasn't his, but she wasn't mine either.

I looked at her as she walked over to held the fucker get of the train. Asking him if he was okay. Our eyes met and a barely noticeable smirk played on his lips before disappearing as he looked back at bunny.

"Oh, Luce, I don't feel good. Can I rest on your shoulder until we get to the hotel?" He asked her, glancing over towards me.

"Yeah, of course. How sick you were yesterday I'm surprised you're not worse. Come on," He wrapped his arms around her stomach laying his head on her shoulder facing me. A full on smirk was placed on his lips. He wasn't even trying to hide it.

I needed to find a way to fix that and fast.

 _Game on._

 **LUCY HEARTFILIA**

 **FOUR HOURS LATER**

My feet were aching as we walked on into the middle of nowhere. We left Gajeel and the others not to long ago back at the town and I was kind of feeling guilty about it. Gajeel wanted to come with us, but I told him it would be better if Wendy, Natsu, Carla, Happy, and I went alone. The look he gave me made me want to go over to one of the buildings and bang my head against it. It was the same look he's been giving me all day. A mixture of disbelief and hurt.

I knew Natsu and Gajeel weren't getting along and I wanted this trip to be a good one. Not one full of them fighting and arguments every other second. Okay, and maybe I wanted to spend some alone time with Natsu and Happy to catch up with them. I mean I haven't had a chance to really talk to them in three years and I knew Gajeel would never let us be alone. So, keeping him back in town with Erza and the other two seemed like the best idea.

Ever since Natsu and Happy came back, I've seen the way Natsu and Gajeel looked at each other. One with with envy and the other with indignation. They had one thing in common with each other though, when they looked at each other pure, unadulterated hatred was in their eyes. I pretended I didn't notice the looks, but it was obvious they hated each other.

Mavis, why was it so hard for the people I care for to get along.

I sighed, keeping my eyes on the ground.

 _Why is the world against me?_

"You okay Luce?"

My gaze trailed from the ground to the pink-haired boy next to me. He was looking at me green eyes curious.

"Oh, yeah, it's nothing. My feet were kind of hurting." I lied. Natsu stared at me for a moment longer, his expression blank.

"We shouldn't be that much longer." Natsu paused, "if you're that tired I could carry you. I mean, I've done it before so…."

I felt my face heating up and turned away from him trying to hide my blush. My heart was fluttering like it had three years ago whenever he offered to do something for me. My gaze went to the ground again as I tried to find a way to respond.

 _How can I still get this feeling after he's been gone for three years?_

"Yeah, you wish. You just want a reason to touch me." I joked. Natsu's cheeks lit up.

"No-I ugh, never mind." He muttered.

"I was right! So, Natsu Dragneel actually isn't as dense as we thought." I teased making him blush a dark red.

"No! Luce it's not like that!" Natsu retorted quickly. "I mean-ugh, you know what? I'm done."

I let out a laugh, and he walked faster ahead of me to catch up with Wendy, Carla, and Happy.

"Oh, come on Natsu! Don't be like that!" I called after him. He didn't turn around only making me laugh harder, and jog to catch up with them.

Like Natsu said it didn't take us very long to reach were Iraneth was. The place wasn't like the rest of the clear, sandy landscape around us. Tan colored giant, spiked rocks were all around the place seemingly popping up out of nowhere. I was in awe as we walked through the place and noting the deeper we got into the strange place, the more life there seemed to be. At first there only of dead plants everywhere like the rest of this desert land, but then small little bits of green seemed to pop up out of here and there until it was everywhere. That added with the dramatic drop in temperature I would have thought we were in a totally different place if not for the tan, spiky rocks still surrounding us.

I was in awe. Well, everyone was, but Natsu. He just walked on ahead of us like none of this fazed him. It probably didn't, after all he did spend three years here. While the rest of us were walking slowly and admiring everything, Natsu was walking slightly faster than us, occasionally sniffing the air.

"Do you hear that?" I stopped and turned to Wendy watching as she tilted her head slightly, listening carefully. "It sounds like running water."

I looked around, but didn't see any running water.

"Well, that would explain the life in this place," Carla said. I nodded in agreement.

"There is! It's really cool and has a lot of tasty fish." Happy drooled.

I looked over to Natsu who didn't say anything. He stood a few paces ahead of me, his lips in a straight line as he looked around, eyes calculating. I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head towards me.

"What's up Luce?"

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He turned around fully and looked at me confused, "yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you're usually never quiet when food is mentioned."

Natsu brought his hand to the back of his neck, laughing lightly. "Yeah well, Happy talks about food a lot so I can't be there every time."

I gave him a pointed look. Natsu sighed, his hand dropping to his side as he looked away from me and scanned the area.

"Okay, I guess I am a little distracted." He admitted, making me smile in triumph.

"Well then, what's-"

I was about to ask him what was wrong, but was cut off abruptly. Natsu had grabbed me and jumped high into the air. In shock, I held onto Natsu tightly looking down at the small crater in the ground from where we used to be standing. We landed over to where the others had ran off to and Natsu had set me down on the ground and peeling my arms off of him before taking off again, hands lit up.

He ran over a little past where we used to be standing and waited. I was confused about what was going on and by the looks on Carla and Wendy's faces they were too. I turned back to Natsu to see him look around again sniffing the air.

"Guy's I'd take a few steps back." Natsu called over his shoulder.

"Natsu-" I tried, but stopped immediately and gasped as there was a bright light and another crater formed where Natsu was standing who quickly jumped out of the way.

"Here they go again," Happy mumbled. I turned towards him confused.

"What do you mean 'again'? Do you know something Tomcat? Tell us," Carla demanded.

"It's just Iraneth and Natsu fighting. Don't worry, it should be over soon." Happy reassured her.

"Happy!" Natsu called out, making Happy sigh and mumble, ' _here we go again.'_

Happy flew over to Natsu picking him up and fly up towards the sky. I looked up and seen a huge red dragon up in the sky a fireball in his hands getting ready to throw it at Natsu. Happy dodged it quickly flying faster towards Iraneth. Happy let Natsu go who was sent flying directly towards the dragon. Letting out a battle cry he punched the dragon straight in the face knocking it to the side.

A million questions ran through my mind at once.

This was Iraneth?

Why would he attack Natsu?

Way did he try and kill us?

Did he want to eat us?

Okay, the last one was a bit out there, but after the whole Zealconis making me naked and trying to eat me thing can you blame me?

Natsu let out a cry in pain bring my attention back to him. He was flying towards us Happy flying after him trying to catch him. His figure was getting closer and closer until he was basically right in front of me. That's when it hit me.

Literally.

"Lushy look out!"

I tried to move out of the way, but wasn't fast enough. Natsu landed on me with a thud, throwing me to the ground under him. Mavis, he was so heavy. I let out a groan trying to push Natsu off of me with no success.

"Lucy?" Natsu groaned, blinking his eyes and looking down at me. His emerald green orbs widened as he quickly scrambled off of me. "Fuck, Lucy I'm sorry.I didn't mean to I swear. "

"It's okay," I mumbled.

He got up offering me his hand which I gladly took. Now standing, Natsu turned around to face the dragon who was landing in front of us.

"What the fuck Iraneth? Why did you knock me out of the air?" Natsu demanded to know.

Iraneth's old withered face showed only anger as he scowled at Natsu. "What do you mean 'why did you knock me out of the air?' You started to eat my fire!"

"Yeah, well, you threw a fireball at Lucy and I!"

"Oh, you knew I was going to attack you. You let your guard down."

"I did not! You could have hurt Luce!"

"You need to learn how to protect your friends better."

"Is that why you threw me at her?"

"That was unintentional. In fact-"

I let out a sigh and stopped listening to the two bicker and began walking over to where Wendy, Happy, and Carla stood.

"Are they always like this?" Wendy asked Happy.

Happy nodded looking over to where the dragon and the dragon slayer stood. "Aye, Iraneth and Natsu are always arguing. This could take a while. Do you want to go to the river and wait for them?"

We nodded and began walking past the two morons and followed Happy to our destination.

We walked for about five minutes until the sound of rushing water rang in my ears and we came to a clearing where there weren't any rocks for about three miles. It was beautiful, with green grass and trees and a huge waterfall. The waterfall came down in the middle of the clearing creating a small river then disappearing underwater.

I walked over to the end of the river taking off my shoes and dipping my feet in the water kicking them back and forth lightly. I sat there for about three or four minutes until I felt myself being pushed forward into the water.

 **NATSU DRAGNEEL**

"Are they gone?" Iraneth asked. I nodded, sitting down on the ground. "Good, what did you want to see me about, my boy?"

"I need more Dragon Tail Root." I said.

Iraneth frowned, "I gave you forty of them before you left. Don't tell me you've eaten all of them already."

I shrugged, looking up at the blue sky waiting for his answer.

Iraneth let out a sigh. "Natsu, I've warned you about the dangers of eating to many of those at once." I nodded my head. "As long as you know then I guess I can give you about ten more. I imagine you and your friends will be in Bellum soon, yes. If so then you need to be at full strength."

"I know,"

"Good, I'll give them to you before you leave." Iraneth said, pushing himself off the ground. "Let's go say hello to the brats you brought with you then."

I got up and followed him towards the stream.

I found Lucy by the river when we got there. She was sitting by the edge, feet in the water. I couldn't help to smirk as an idea popped into my head. Leaving Iraneth's side, I walked over to her stripping down to my boxers in the progress. I stood about two meters away from her when I let out a battle cry and ran towards her full speed. She didn't even get a chance to turn around before I tackled he into the water only letting out a light scream as we went under.

As I surfaced I couldn't help, but laugh as her. She looked so funny with her hair was matted over her forehead and eyes. She pushed it off her head, her brown eyes glaring at me.

"What, the fuck Natsu? You got my clothes wet!"

"That's why I removed mine." I said with a shrug. I watch as Lucy's face went cherry red and she looked down through the water towards my bottom half. I couldn't help but to smirk as she let out a sigh in relief as she seen I had my boxers on her eyes lingering longer than they needed to. Great, payback for earlier.

"Wow, Lucy, I can't believe you. Checking me out." Lucy blushed a darker red.

"NO! I was just making sure that you weren't completely naked. That's all!" Lucy tried to reason.

"Yeah, sure you were." I teased. "You know, Lucy, I really don't mind. I mean I've seen you naked a lot right. So if you want you can see me naked all you want. I don't really care. Infact, I can show you right now if you want."

Lucy gasped, as I swam closer toward her leaning in for her to hear me. "I mean we'd have to go somewhere private. I think Wendy's still too young and innocent for her her to see," I gestured down to my boxers. "you know. I don't think Carla would appreciate me corrupting her. What do yah say Luce? Care for a peek?"

I spoke barely above a whisper, leaning back to see her reaction trying to keep my smirk off my face.

Lucy gasped, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. "I-ah-"

I couldn't help myself as I laughed loudly. "Oh, my gosh, I can't believe this! You-haha-you- oh Mavis! Happy, Lucy's being a pervert!"

I was laughing sure, but for a moment there she actually looked like she was thinking about seeing me naked and that made me a bit nervous and honestly, really freaked out. I can only remember one time she's seen me naked. I just got out of the bath at her place and was walking around the place in my birthday suit waiting for Happy to get me an extra pair of clothes from our place. Lucy walked in from the guild and seen me and quickly covered her eyes, screaming at me to put on clothes. She didn't stop blushing till hours after that. Now, she was actually debating with herself whether or not she'd like to see me naked. Metal Face's words rang in my ears:

 _Things change when you're gone for three years, kid, she isn't the same girl she was when you left._

"AM NOT!" Lucy screamed as she glared at me swimming away and getting out of the pool. I watched as the droplets of water trailed down her back as she stomped away.

"Oh, come on Luce it was a joke!" I called out after her. She didn't turn around just kept walking as far away from me as she could get. "Lucy!"

"There's an extra pair of clothes in the cave over there. They might be big on you, but at least they're dry." I heard Iraneth tell her. I watched as she nodded and walked over to the cave to get changed.

I sighed swimming over to the edge, and climbing out. I began walking towards the cave to go after Lucy.

"Natsu, you shouldn't have done that to Lucy." Happy said, flying over to me.

"I agree with the cat." Iraneth said, nodding towards Happy. "How do you expect to find a mate if you're mean to them? I remember how I got your grandmother. I was a young dragon and she was from a different pack, but that didn't matter to us. I used all my charisma and charm to earn her affection. Plus a nice fat boar or fish didn't hurt."

"Get her a fish to say sorry Natsu. If she doesn't want it I'll take it." Happy drooled and Iraneth nodded in agreement.

"Or, something meaty. Female dragons like meat." Iraneth nodded again before turning his attention to the overly excited sky dragon slayer who was asking him question after question which he gladly answered.

I was tempted to tell him that Lucy wasn't a dragon I didn't think she'd like that stuff, but decided it wasn't worth my time. I walked over to the cave and entered to see Lucy standing in the middle of the room looking around for the clothes Iraneth told her about.

"Lucy,"

"Go away Natsu, I don't want to talk to you right now." Lucy said not turning around to look at me.

"Lucy, I said I was sorry." I said, taking a few steps closer until I was directly behind her. "I was just joking Luce, I wanted to make you feel embarrassed like you made me feel earlier. I'm sorry if I took it too far."

She didn't reply. I let out a sigh, running my hair through my wet hair in frustration.

"At least let me dry you off. You're cold and wet right? Come on,"

I heard Lucy let out a sigh turning around to face me stepping into my chest wrapping her arms around me. I wrapped my arms around her in return holding her to me as I used my magic to raise my body temperature and watched as the steam came off our bodies. We stood like even after we were both dry.

"Forgive me?" I whispered against her hair. My heart was beating fast and I hoped she wouldn't notice.

"I don't know Natsu," Lucy sighed leaning her face against my chest.

"Please?"

Lucy looked up at my puppy dog face and pursed her lips together. "Ugh, fine under one condition."

"Anything," I replied, but quickly wished I hadn't when I seen that evil glint in her eye.

 **LUCY HEARTFILIA**

Natsu was sulking. He's been sulking all day and begged me not to make him go through with our deal. I wouldn't let him of course. The idea was too sweet to pass up. And thinking of hw Gray would react was even sweeter.

"Lucy please, please don't make me. I'll do anything. Just not this, please!" Natsu begged and I just shook my head.

"No a deal's a deal" I replied. "Now you know what to do. I'll be with the others at the bar. Now go, I'll be waiting."

He turned around to leave, mumbling how much he didn't want to do this the whole time. I laughed and walked into the bar instantly finding Gajeel sitting at the bar, eyeing the drink menu the whole time. I walked over plopping down next to him leaning on the bar and ordering a pina colada and a regular beer.

"Hey Jeel," I said looking at him a smile on my face.

Oh Mavis, I was excited.

"What's got you so giddy?" Gajeel asked, eyeing the pink fruity drink in front of me. I quickly grabbed his half way full beer, downing it and pouring the fruiting drink inside of it. "Thanks,"

I smiled eyeing the door. I looked over to Gray who was in a deep conversation with Erza. He wouldn't expect a thing. This is going to be good. So, so good.

"Seriously, bunny what's up? You look like you're about to to see a famous person or something." Gajeel commented.

"You'll see," I said, taking a sip of beer, turning around and facing the door.

A few minutes later and two beers I saw a pink haired man walk in through the doors. I couldn't help, but giggle at his appearance. He was wearing Gray's white coat, unbuttoned so you can see Gray's black t-shirt, his green pants sagging so you could see his black and gray underwear. Infact, the only thing that was his was his scarf which he wore around his neck.

Natsu sent me a pleading look begging me not to make him go this. I shook my head pointing over to a half naked Gray. Natsu walked over there, taking a deep breath before tapping on Gray's shoulder.

"Yeah what do you-" Gray paused, eyes going wide as he scanned Natsu's attire. "Natsu why the fuck are you in my clothes?"

Natsu shot me a glance before replying. "The truth is, I've always admired you….Gray-sama."

Gray stared at Natsu dumbfounded. "W-what?"

"Yeah, I've always admired your sense of fashion, the way you strip and you don't care what anyone thinks, and the way you can make stuff out of ice." Natsu shot me a look. I motioned for him to go with it. "And I was wondering Gray-sama if you admired me too? Does Gray-sama like me as well?"

"What the fuck Natsu? Why are you acting like Juvia?"

"Gray-sama," Natsu paused turning back to me looking me straight in the eye.

'Go on,' I mouthed.

"Fuck it," Natsu said keeping eye contact with me for a moment longer before he turned around really fast and planted a kiss on Gray's cheek. Then, he quickly moved away and vigorously began wiping his mouth. Gray stood there gobsmacked as he watched Natsu speechless.

Gajeel erupted with laughter, beside me and I did the same. Mavis, it was the best. Payback really was a real bitch. Natsu began to strip off Gray's clothes only leaving on his boxers. He came towards me a frown on his face.

"Happy now?" He asked. I nodded, placing my hand over my mouth to try and stop my laughter.

"Wait that was your idea! Priceless! Good job bunny girl you made my day!" Gajeel said throwing an arm over my shoulder. Natsu glared at Gajeel.

"Yes, and I think that's enough excitement for today. Don't you agree?" Erza said from behind Natsu, a shocked Gray standing behind her.

I nodded in agreement and we began walking back to the hotel, Natsu yanking on my arm pulling me out from under Gajeel wanting to get back quickly and complaining about being cold. Which I knew was a lie, but didn't say anything. I bid the others good night and went off with Natsu back to our room.

Today was fun.

 _Too bad the fun wouldn't last._

 **a/n: I updated! I had some free time so I decided to write.**

 **I really had fun writing this chapter. Maybe that's why it's so long. Idk. I think I'm going to start writing in Gajeel's POV more often. I like people knowing what's going on through his head. Oh and there's some drama/action/story development coming up very soon so I really like it when I can get some Nalu moments in here.**

 **What do you think's gonna happen? The title theme,** _ **Demon Within**_ **, chapter is coming really soon for those who want to know when it's going to happen. To key things have to happen before that though.**

 **Until next time!**


	12. 10

**10.**

 **NATSU DRAGNEEL**

After three years, four months, and fifteen days I was finally here. I was finally in Bellum. And if my information was right so was Zeref.

My brother.

It still shocked me to call him that even after three years.

" _Brother,"_ It was nothing more than a whisper, but the sound of it made my insides churn.

It felt foreign as I whispered the word. The letters moved around in my mouth heavily almost acting as if I was chewing on a piece of sour candy rather than seven simple letters. It was weird that I hadn't thought of the possibility of having any family outside of Igneel. Now that I think back on it, I feel like I should have known. Zeref knew things about me that I hadn't even told _anyone_. Like my memories before Igneel. That, and, how he knew my name when I hadn't even seen him before never sat right with me. I should have known something was up. And I'm ashamed of myself for it. For that reason alone is why I didn't tell anybody, not even Master Makarov, that I'm related to that monster.

I felt guilty for not telling anybody. Especially, for not telling Lucy. Well, I felt guilty for keeping everything away from Lucy. After everything Zeref told me about her mom, Layla, I knew I had no right to keep it to myself. But keeping it to myself prevented her-no, to prevent _everyone_ from getting the whiplash of my shitty life.

Now here I stood with everyone in the capital of Bellum looking up at the castle wondering if Zeref was here now. The possibility of him being here before they said he would did not sit well with me. Zeref should be here within the next three days or so. I had even talked it over with Iraneth and the master. But I couldn't shake this feeling like something was going to happen. Something I'm sure nobody is going to like. The thoughts running through my head didn't help in the least bit. They were only fucking me up more.

Zeref, Layla, Igneel, E.N.D. Zeref, Layla, Igneel, E.N.D. Zeref, Layla, Igneel, E.N.D. Zeref, Layla, Igneel, E.N.D. _Zeref, Layla, Igneel, E.N.D. Zeref, Layla, Igneel, E.N.D. Zeref, Layla, Igneel, E.N.D._ **Zeref, Layla, Igneel,** _**E.N.D.**_

The thoughts continued in that order as if on a continuous loop as they played through my head. I didn't know if this was a new side effect of the roots I didn't know about (which I highly doubt since I've only eaten two of them today) or, if the thought of being so close to The Dark Wizard was beginning to bring up unwanted thoughts.

I let out a sigh, leaning my head back to look up at the starry sky. I needed to get rid of these thoughts and fast and there was only one way to do that.

And that was through alcohol.

 **LUCY HEARTFILIA**

To say I was worried would be an understatement. Since we've been on the train Natsu's been quiet not speaking unless spoken to first. Even with the motion sickness problem, he would, at least, manage to gurgle out some words or mumblings. This time nothing. the only sound I hear from him was a low whisper of something when we got off the train in the capital of Bellum. Even then it was too low to make out.

Now, we were in the local pub suppose to be gathering information. Then there was a pink-headed boy who was here, not helping at all, and only drinking his weight in liquor like a familiar brunette we all knew. He was really worrying me.

I let out a sigh, leaning my head onto the table I was sitting at with Gajeel and Gray. Gajeel was here like usual, but Gray randomly started to hang out with us since about two days ago after the Natsu incident. It was really kind of funny to see him get all red-faced whenever he sees Natsu. I wish I had a camera so I can give Juvia a picture.

"What's up bunny? Why are you acting like someone shit in your cheerios." I scrunched my nose up at Gajeel's choice of words.

"What the fuck man. Why would you even say that?" Gray made a disgusted face looking at Gajeel. He was shirtless of course, with his arm over the back of the booth we were sitting in staring at Gajeel.

"It's a metaphor, dumb fuck. But I shouldn't have to explain it to you since I wasn't talking to you in the first place." Gajeel snapped. Wow someone's in a bad mood.

Gray held his hands up in mock defense, "Geez, there's no need to bite my head off."

Gajeel didn't reply taking a sip of his beer, looking in the other direction. I looked at him curiously wondering what was going on with him. He's been acting strange since Natsu and Happy came back. Okay, I knew I had no place to talk in that category since I've been the queen of unusual behavior since they came back, but for all the time I've known Gajeel he's never been one to change the way he acts for others.

All the stress with Zeref and everyone was really getting worked up. Is Wendy going to suddenly start to throw a hissy fit over the temperature of her hot chocolate?

I let out another sigh looking over towards Erza and Natsu. She was trying to get him to slow down on his drinking, but Natsu was just ignoring her. Instead of taking her advice he only went for more alcohol. He was really starting to worry me. I looked down at the half-drunk beer in front of me. I suddenly didn't feel like drinking anymore.

I pushed it away from me standing up and began stretching my back a bit. "I'm going back to the hotel. Either of you care to join me?"

Gray looked around the room, then looked at me with a nod. "Yeah, this place is really starting to bore me out as well."

I looked to Gajeel who just shook his head, "Nah, I think I'll kick it here for a while. Well, at least until I finish this drink."

 _His voice says one thing, but his eyes say another._

I nodded turning around to grab my stuff. Gajeel has seemed different from himself lately and I don't really think that it has to do with this whole Zeref thing. He's seemed really lonely. Maybe it's because I've been spending a lot of time with Natsu lately I've neglected my other friends. Gajeel doesn't really get along with people and now that I'm not really paying attention to him and Lily's catching up with Happy, he's been by himself a lot. Thinking about it make me

"Hey, umm, Jeel,"

Gajeel looked up at me with a questioning gaze, "Yeah,"

"We should hand out soon, just the two of us. You know like before. How does that sound?" I asked.

Gajeel stared at me before a smile broke out on his face. "That sounds perfect,"

 **THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW**

Gray and Lucy slowly walked back to the hotel making some small talk along the way.

"I'm telling you mermaids can't have belly buttons if they lay eggs, it's not possible!" Gray argues with Lucy who just rolled her eyes at him.

"And I'm telling you that mermaids have the upper body of a human and the lower body of fish." She argued back

"Yeah, well, I'm still telling you that being part fish you can't have a belly button." Gray said.

Lucy smirked looking triumphantly at him and was about to reply when Gray's face suddenly got serious. His eyes were darting back and forth, as he scanned the area.

"Gray, what's wrong?" She whispered worriedly, her big brown doe eyes looking around the area.

"Shh, Lucy be quiet for a second," Gray cut me off.

Everything seemed fine to Lucy but after all these years of knowing Gray she had learned to trust his instincts

"Gray…."

"Yeah," Gray paused looking around the area one more time before turning towards her. He gave her a small smile. "I just….had this weird feeling that somebody was watching us. Just in case, we should head back to the hotel."

She nodded and they quickened their pace. The atmosphere was heavy as they walked, Gray's random stop in the middle of their conversation was not sitting well with her and she wanted to get back as fast as possible.

Lucy looked around the street where they were standing on, glancing through the alley and seeing the familiar sign that looked quite similar to the one they were saying at. She gasped gripping Gray's sleeve-tugging lightly successfully making him stop and turn towards her. Lucy lifted up her hand she pointed through the alley to the big sign that read, 'ROYAL KING INN' in bright neon letters.

'Isn't that our hotel's name?" Lucy asked, turning to glance back at him.

"It looks like it," Gray nodded.

"Look, we can cut through here and get back faster!" She said cheerfully.

Gray frowned, looking at the alley skeptically. "I don't know Lucy. I think we should take the long way back."

It was her turn to frown. "Why? The hotel is literally just right there."

"I don't know Lucy," Gray sighed his gaze trailing from the dark alley to the blond haired girl in front of him. seeing her lips put into a pout giving her an innocent look make Gray blush and look away. "I have a bad feeling about this. Let's just go around, okay."

Gray turned back to look at the blond-haired celestial mage only to see her halfway into the alley already. A scowl settled itself onto Gray's lips making it's home there. He silently began to cuss her out.

"Hey Lucy wait up!" Gray yelled out, jogging to catch up with her.

As Gray ran he heard a soft thud behind him. Disregarding it as a nothing, he continued to move towards Lucy. After a moment, he began to hear more thuds behind him. Gray went to turn around only to be met with a sharp pain. He cried out, falling to the ground as his head throbbed with the intense throbbing of a searing pain towards the back of his head. He brought his hand to the part his head where the pain emanated from to test the damage. Gray slowly brought his hand back and looked at it to see a red sticky substance lathered all over his fingers. His vision was blurry, but he could see the silhouette of Lucy's figure in front of him.

Gray could see as her blurry figure turned around and heard her gasp as she ran over to him. No, he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her to run away from her and get to the others, but he couldn't. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth as if it was full of lead. He could barely move it let alone move it to talk.

"Gray!, " She gasped kneeling down on the ground next to him. She cradled his head in her lap; gasping slightly when she felt the warm liquid run from the back of his head. "Gray, Gray can you hear me?"

Gray could, in fact, hear her, but his attention was drawn to the masked figures standing behind her. With the blurriness of his vision and the darkness of their clothes, there was no way that he could tell what they looked like, and with Lucy's blubbering with false promises of safety next to him there was no way that he could even think of a way out of this. His head pounded and hit hurt him to even keep his eyes open. The feeling of the need to sleep washing over him in waves.

He worked on moving the muscles in his mouth until he could somewhat move his tongue.

"Lucy, behind you," Gray's words were slurred and barely legible, but Lucy understood him and she turned her head to look behind her.

Lucy gasped as the shadowed figure descended upon them, throwing herself over Gray's body at a failed attempt to defend them.

"No, I won't let them hurt you!" Lucy said, gripping her keys in one hand, fumbling with them as she tried to grab one only to drop the whole ring on the ground.

The shadowed figures were upon them now, the leader grinned sadistically at Lucy yanking her from Gray's figure and throwing her to one of his companions. He leaned over the ice mage's body the grin never leaving his body. He stretched his hand out to his body dipping his finger into his blood, bring it to his lips licking the substance off. He closed his eyes, slightly moaning at the taste.

"Your blood is so delicious what a pity it has to go to waste like this." His told Gray his face full of mock pity. "No, you won't die. About now your friends are coming this way and the healer will heal you. But, do me a favor will you. Tell the dragon slayer, Natsu Dragneel, Zeref will be waiting for him."

The leader leaned away from him looking toward Lucy. The others in his group had been successful of restraining the struggling blond.

"Let us go shall we?" He asked the others who only replied by disappearing in a thick cloud of black looking smoke one by one until it was only him and the one who was holding Lucy.

"GRAY!" Lucy screamed out managing to free one of her hands and stretching it out for Gray, then she too disappeared in a thick cloud of smoke.

"I'll be seeing you, Ice Make Wizard."

And with that, the mysterious hooded man disappeared as well leaving Gray all alone withering in pain on the ground slowly losing consciousness.

 **a/n: HELLO! First update of the new year! Yah, anyways hope you don't hate me for this chapter.**


	13. 11

**11.**

 **GAJEEL REDFOX**

The first reaction I had to the news was to beat the living shit out of the raven-haired strippers laying in the bed in front of me. Not even an half-an-hour ago did we find him bleeding out on the ground in the alley behind the hotel. Like magic, a certain blond-haired celestial mage nowhere in site and. So yeah, I think was justifiable when he woke up to demand answers. But, no, apparently we have to wait for the red-headed bitch to come back with the pink-headed bastard to really get any news out of him.

I was so frustrated I had even begun pacing back and forth.

"You should calm down," Pantherlily had suggested, using his magic to make his wings appear, flying up to place one of his paws on my shoulder successfully stopping my movements. "I'm sure Lucy's fine and told Gray to wait for everyone before saying where she was going."

I glanced back at him and saw how he was just as unsure of his reply as I was. He looked worried, but you could only tell that if you knew him like I did. Like how his eyes narrowed just the slightest bit and the corners of his mouth tightened. I had no idea who he was trying to full, but it wasn't working for me.

"Yeah, like she was planning a surprise party!" The blue exceed had exclaimed cheerfully. "Like, maybe she's getting fish or something!"

Not long after that, the redhead had come back with the unconscious drunken' fool in tow and we had learned the reason for Bunny's disappearance.

Now here I was resisting the urge to strangle him.

"We have to go. Every moment we waste here with this stupid fuckin dilly dallying shit is a moment they could be torturing her!" I hissed sending a death glare towards the low life in the bed. He averted my gaze his eyes never leaving the bed.

"No," the redhead's voice rang out sternly. "Look Gajeel, I don't like this either, but until we get word from Master Makarov what to do we aren't going or doing anything. We're in enemy territory and one wrong move can bring war onto Fiore."

"What about Natsu?" Gray asked, struggling to sit up. I scowled at him. "Are we going to tell him what happened? Now we know Zeref's involved so we can't keep it from him."

The redheaded bitch's face looked in thought for a moment before replying. "No. We won't tell him. He's currently passed out right now, so I don't think there's any need." Erza looked directly into my eyes before saying the last bit. "No one, I mean no one is going to go after her."

I stormed out of the room making my way to the place Lily and I were staying in as I felt my face redden from anger. How could they just expect me to abandon her? They've already abandoned her once so why had I not expected them to do it again? No, I was going to get Lucy back for sure with or without their help. And I knew one person who would help me no matter what.

 **NATSU DRAGNEEL**

 ****I felt myself being shaken awake from my dream like state, and my whole body began to ache the familiar pounding of a hangover. I groaned swatting half-heartedly at the figure trying to wake me up. They didn't stop, though, their shakes only becoming more demanding until there was a sharp pain hitting my cheek. My eyes snapped open and I glared over towards the blurry figure.

Once my vision cleared I saw the last person I expected to be standing there. Gajeel stood in above me, Pantherlily on his shoulder with a scowl on his face. I glared at the two before laying back down in bed thinking about going back to bed.

"Salamander, you have to get up." I heard Lily's voice call out.

I opened my eyes looking up at the black exceed, then over to Gajeel. "Fuck off, and tell Erza that as well. I'm sure she's the one who sent you here."

"Erza didn't send us," I turning over determined to ignore them when metal face said something I couldn't ignore. "It's about Lucy."

The mention of her name that came so emotionless through Gajeel's lips made me instantly turn around and face him. He never spoke about her like that. What had happened?

"What happened to Lucy?" I growled, ignoring the pounding in my head as I stood up to face him face to face.

"She's been kidnapped."

Once the words reached my ears and my heart felt like it was constricting in my chest. Suddenly, the pain of the hangover was nothing compared to the panic and the heartache I was feeling right now. I felt someone had shot me in the chest; like someone had taken a dagger and was stabbing me in the chest repeatedly. It was my fault. If I hadn't gotten drunk then I could have been there to protect her.

"What," I gasped out looking at Gajeel.

"I need your help to get her back."

I felt anger surge through me. "Why the hell haven't you went after her already!" I yelled.

Gajeel's eyes flashed, "You think that if I could have I wouldn't have already. That red-headed bitch is keeping me here. That's why I need your help to get the hell out of here. No one else would dare to go against Erza and her wrath."

 _Yeah, because you couldn't have taken on Erza and Gray by yourself, huh._

A new found sense of determination filled me in and replaced all the mixed emotions I was currently feeling right now. The determination to get Lucy back and to kill the bastards that dared to take her from me. Knowing Gajeel couldn't take them on alone and was indirectly asking me for help only feeling me with more determination. Except this one with a closer purpose in mind. Making plans for actions that will come into play later, but first, they have to deal with the first matter at hand. Taking down who dared touch, Lucy.

Oh, yes.

They were going to pay.

 **THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW**

 ****Natsu stormed out of the room and down the hotel halls heading out the front door with the Iron Dragonslayer and black exceed in tow. The only thoughts running through his mind were thoughts of getting Lucy back to him and how many ways he was going to torture to death the people who had taken her from him. None of the thoughts were pretty, but they filled his resolve with even more passion and need to rectify the situation.

He didn't care about how much noise he was currently making at the moment, but the other two did. They constantly kept telling him they needed to be quiet to sneak out of here to save her. Natsu didn't care; he wanted them to find him. He wanted Erza and Gray to try and fight against him. The wanted to kick their asses in place for Lucy. He wanted to teach them a lesson for abandoning their friend. Even if someone superior tells you to abandon them you don't.

The old Erza, Gray, and Wendy he knew wouldn't do this. He knew that for a fact.

Natsu saw the opening to the hotel and quickened his pace towards it. He was almost there when someone suddenly appeared in front of him, sipping on a glass of tea. Natsu halted his movements staring at the Requip wizard in front of him.

"Move," Natsu growled at the redhead who only glanced at him before setting the glass on the table.

"Gajeel," Erza said coolly, showing no emotion in her voice before looking over at him and shot him a petrifying glare. "Why are you three up so early in the morning?"

Gajeel stood there frozen momentarily before he gulped down the lump in his throat. "None of your concern, women."

Erza raised her eyebrows at his remark. ' _Thinks he's brave now does he? Well, I'll have to show him in his place soon enough.'_

Natsu paid no mind to their bickering, for once, and kept his glare on Erza. Once her gaze shifted back to him, he narrowed his eyes. She had a slight smirk on his lips making Natsu, even more, angry than he already was. First she gets in his way of saving Lucy and now she dares mock him.

"Move," Natsu demanded her, but she didn't make any movement other than to widen her smirk.

"If I did move, just where would you be planning to go?" Erza asked.

Natsu looked at her as if she was stupid. "I'm going to save Lucy."

Erza's smirk widened into a full knowing smile now. Of course, Natsu was going to save Lucy. It was part of his nature. Something Erza was going to have to stop quickly. The master would be here in less than six hours (thanks to Blue Pegasus' airship) and had told her to not let Natsu and Gajeel go after her.

"I'm truly sorry, Natsu, but I can't let you do that." She sighed, using her Requip magic to Requip into her Flame Empress Armour. Erza lifted her Flame Sword at Natsu before speaking."I have to stop you right here before you-"

Erza cut herself off with a gasp. Natsu had suddenly disappeared in front of her eyes. She looked around the room before quickly jumping back. Looking back at where she just stood was Natsu. He had his head bent as he stood in a fighting stance. If it hadn't happened right before her she wouldn't have believed that he hadn't been there the whole time.

"What-how?" Erza gasped out.

Natsu raised his head again, sending her a glare before disappearing again. Erza quickly scanned the area before jumping out of the way just in time to dodge one of Natsu's punches. Natsu was in front of her now, attacking with his flaming fists so fast Erza could barely keep up.

' _How is he going so fast?'_ Erza thought to herself as she blocked another one of Natsu's attacks. ' _Even though this armor lowers the destructive power of flame attacks by 50%, it feels like Natsu's attacks are hitting me straight on. I'll have to finish this fast.'_

Gajeel wasn't believing what he was seeing. Salamander was taking on Erza and didn't even look to be breaking a sweat. Natsu disappeared again only to reappear behind her and kick her into a wall. People began to scream and run out of the inn, but that didn't stop the two from continuing the fight. Attack after attack from Natsu had driven Erza to gasp to try and catch her breath in between each one of his relentless flamed fists.

The only thought running through Gajeel's mind was how he had held back on him in the training they did. If Erza didn't stand a chance then there was no way he could. Just how much better had he had gotten.

"Natsu," Erza rasped in between pants. "Just what did you do when you left?"

"I trained," Natsu said pausing his attacks. "I trained with a dragon. Humans are nothing compared to them."

Natsu knew Erza was done from the way she almost fell over and had to use her sword to keep her standing-which even that wasn't fulling working for her as she began to slouch down on the sword. Natsu wanted to smirk at his clever thinking, but he didn't knowing that would only provoke her into attacking again. He knew the best way to approach her was with speed. She wasn't expecting it, nor was she ready for it. God, now he was thankful for the running and races Iraneth had him do. They were killer. Having to beat a flying dragon in a race was probably the hardest thing he had to do when he was with Iraneth, but it paid off just like he said it would.

Wendy, Carla, Happy, and a hurt Gray stumbled down stairs, standing just a few feet away from Gajeel and Lily, in time to see Erza, panting heavily as Natsu stood in front of her seemingly no scratch on his body.

Wendy gasped, looking at the scene. ' _Had Natsu really done this to Erza out of all people?'_

"What the hell," Gray muttered, shifting his weight as he leaned up against Wendy for support. "Did Natsu really do that to Erza?"

"Yeah," Gajeel replied not taking his eyes off the two. "I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it. One moment he was there and the next he was gone."

"But, why are they fighting?" Wendy cried out, looking over at Gajeel. "You told him didn't you. You told him that Lucy's gone."

Gajeel didn't even try and deny her accusation, "Lucy has to be saved. If you guys won't help me do it, then I found somebody who would."

"The rest of the guild would have been here in a few hours!" Wendy yelled at him, shaking from how pissed off she was right now.

"We don't have that much time!" Gajeel shot back glaring at the little girl.

"Natsu, no," Happy whispered taking the dragonslayer's focus out of their fight and into the scene before them.

Natsu turned around to walk out the door, but Erza's voice stopped him. "Where do you think you're going?"

He turned around to see her struggling to her feet still using her sword as a crutch.

"Face it Erza, your beaten. You can barely even stand." Natsu said.

"No," Erza growled, lifting her sword off the ground. "A Fairy Tail wizard never gives up. Or did you forget that when you abandoned us?"

Natsu used his speed again against her, running right up to and socking her right in the stomach. Erza gasped out in pain and shock as she leaned up against Natsu for support of her exhausted body.

"No," Natsu said lowly into her ear. "No, I didn't forget and that's why _I'm_ fighting every moment of every day. I fight for myself, I fight for others, I fight for those you can't fight back. And right now, I have to fight to for Lucy. She's in trouble and needs my help. I can't abandon her again. After we all did I don't think she can take that. No, she shouldn't have to take that."

Natsu let Erza fall to the ground, looking down at her body for a moment before turning around and walking towards the door.

Wendy gasped running to Erza's side quickly beginning her healing magic.

Gray turned over to Natsu calling out his name. Natsu stopped moving but didn't turn around. "Bring her back."

Giving a small nod, he walked out the door a dragon slayer and exceed in tow.

Gray looked over to Happy who looked conflicted on what to do.

"Go, after them Happy," Gray said. "They might need you."

Happy nodded, glancing at Carla before taking off after them.

' _I hope they bring her back soon._ ' Gray thought.

 **a/n: HELLO PEOPLE! Hope you enjoyed this every late chapter!**


	14. 12

**12.**

 **THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW**

To say Lucy slept well would be a bit of an understatement. She felt like she was sleeping on clouds from how soft and comfortable the bed was. That night sleep was one that was one of many wonders and without worries. That couldn't be said for the morning after of course. When Lucy woke she didn't freak out at first. No, it took her a moment to fully wake up, until the whole scream-head-off started.

Lucy blinked her eyes open and stared up at the unfamiliar sky blue ceiling. She felt confused for a moment, not recognizing the color of this ceiling, her own being a bland beige color. While she was staring up at the ceiling trying to remember how she got here, she didn't notice a figure cloaked in black standing in the corner by the door until he cleared his throat.

Lucy snapped her head from the ceiling over to the corner where the figure stood. She reached down to grab one of her keys, noticing they weren't there. She mentally cursed, glaring at the cloaked figure. They were just an outline of black due to their whole body being covered in all black clothing and a hood being pulled over their face.

"I'm sorry to interrupt..." The cloaked figure began to walk towards her as it spoke with it's deep masculine voice. " _Whatever_ you were doing. It's just that, Lord Zeref's orders was to bring you to him once you woke up."

Lucy wasn't sure whether to be shocked or angry. Yeah, okay so, Zeref was the cause for everything bad happening in her life and that was a good reason to be angry, but he was also the emperor of a country and for him to request see her was totally confusing.

"Why?" Lucy asked him.

"Why what?" The figure stood in front of her now.

He towered over her sitting body with his height; the difference made Lucy feel like a small child or animal in comparison. He was close enough that Lucy could see the outline of his face and make out the eerie glow of his blood red eyes. The color sent a shiver down Lucy's spine. They reminded her all too much of Gajeel's eyes back when he still belonged to his old guild. They were cold and emotionless; not caring for anything but strength and power.

Lucy hated those eyes.

"So, " The cloaked man spoke, his eyes capturing hers holding them with his unwavering stare. "Why what, human?"

Lucy's eyebrows pushed together. "Why does Zeref want to see me?"

"That's _Lord_ Zeref to you, you naive girl." By the way he spoke, she could tell a scowl adorned his face. "And to answer your question I don't understand why Lord Zeref would want to talk to a human like you, but I have no reason to question it. What Lord Zeref wants, we don't question it. Even if it is a _human_ girl like you."

Lucy felt a bit perplexed at his choice of words.

 _'Why he keep referring to her as human. Wasn't he one himself?'_ Lucy thought to herself. _'Unless he wasn't. Could he, could he be a demon from the book of Zeref?'_

Lucy stared at him for a moment, debating this new found information.

"Stop think too hard, you'll hurt your human brain and Lord Zeref will be angry with me for bringing you to him injured." He threw something at her, hitting her straight in her face.

 _'At least, that stopped her gawking,'_ The cloaked figure thought. He smirked slightly as he watched her pull the clothes off her face and give him a glare with mild amusement. Oh, he could tell this one was going to be fun.

"Hurry and get dressed," He said, purposely not hinting at his amusement with his voice. He didn't want this girl to know she amused him. "I've gotten your keys and belt back from Midori, you should be grateful. If it was up to me, we'd have those things burned."

"What about my other clothes? What happened to them?" The girl rudely asked. He had to resist the urge to rip her throat out.

"I don't know and I don't really care. Lord Zeref wished you to be dressed in this, so you'll be dressed in this." He said glaring at her. "Now, no more idol talking. Hurry and get dressed."

When the human didn't move he began to get irritated. "What now? I told you to get dressed. Are you deaf?"

When she still didn't move, he began to study her face for any sudden illness but didn't find any. Instead, he noted how the dark red blush was creeping up from her neck to her cheeks.

"You expect me to get changed with a boy in the room?" Lucy asked completely flabbergasted.

 _'Who did he think he was.'_

"Yes," The cloaked figure stated. "If you're worried about me looking at your human body, feel free to put those cast those worries away. Your human body has holds no interest for me."

 _'Wow, because that makes me feel so much better.'_ Lucy thought.

In truth, Lucy was actually looking down at her body, wondering what was wrong with it. Was she just not sexually appealing to demons? Or was it all men in general, she didn't know.

After a moment or two, Lucy turned towards the cloaked man, still not completely over his comment. "Can you just, turn around or something?"

"I don't understand you stupid humans," He muttered to himself. "Fine," he said as he turned around facing the wall.

Lucy let out a sigh, quickly grabbing onto the new clothes examining them. It was the latest fashion in Bellum. It was a dark red skater dress that faded into black towards the end. It reached about an inch above the knee. Along with that came a pair of black stockings, a pair of red flats, and to finish that off was a gold necklace and bracelet.

She had to admit, for an evil guy, he had a good sense of fashion.

Lucy sent a quick glance over to the other occupant of the room making sure he was still turned around before quickly getting dressed, putting her hair up in a quick bun, and buckling her belt that held her keys and whip to her waist. The belt didn't really match, but at this point, she wasn't thinking about her appearance rather than her safety.

"I'm ready," Lucy said.

"Good," He said, turning around to face her. She felt like she wanted to hide when his red eyes ran over her body checking her appearance, letting out a nod in approval. "That will have to do. Now come along, we've kept m'lord waiting long enough."

And with that, he threw open the door and began walking out not even waiting for her to catch up. Lucy ran after him trying to catch up to him when a thought ran through his mind.

What if she just ran away in the other direction?

As Lucy thought about the chances of her escape, she slowed down to a halt.

' _I wonder,'_ Lucy thought as she turned around, getting ready to run,

"Don't even think about it, demons are faster than you humans." A warm breath fanned over her neck. She jumped back looking up at the cloaked figure with wide eyes.

"What?" Lucy asked dumbly.

He didn't reply, only turned around and began to walk again in the other direction. Lucy quickly ran around to catch up to him letting go of the fleeting idea of escape.

It wasn't long before we made it to where Zeref was. The cloaked figure held one of the large doors open for Lucy.

Lucy let out a breath before entering the room.

The doors opened up to a throne room.

It was bright with light shining through the window. The hall was full of people chatting away. At first glance, they seemed unaware of the Black Wizard in their presence, but on closer inspection you can see the anxiousness of look in their eyes and the light sweat on their brow.

Lucy recognized Zeref immediately. He was at the front of the room sitting where the king would have been, holding the book of E.N.D. in his hand looking at it. He only looked up from the book as we approached closing it and tucking it under his arm.

"Lord Zeref," The cloaked man said, kneeling down before him. Lucy wasn't sure what to do, so she stood there awkwardly looking at her feet. "I've brought the girl like you've asked of me."

Zeref looked at Lucy, her awkwardness filling him with amusement. He resisted the urge to laugh knowing it would be unfit for someone of his stature, so he settled with a small smile instead.

"Yes, I can see that. Thank you, Saburo." Zeref said, taking his eyes off of Lucy for a moment to look down at Saburo bowing before him. "You can take off your hood, Saburo. No one is going to attack us here."

' _Saburo, huh,'_ Lucy thought as she looked at the cloaked figure in front of her. ' _That means the third son, right? For some reason, that doesn't seem to fit him.'_

Lucy didn't take her eyes off of him as she watched the inner conflict go throw him.

' _Maybe there's a meaning behind the name. I mean, I have a meaning behind mine, so maybe there's a meaning behind his...I wonder what he looks like behind that hood.'_ Lucy thought.

Saburo looked at his maker with shocked eyes. "But m'lord, what about the human? She could potentially-"

Zeref held up his hand and Saburo instantly feel silent beneath him; his words getting lost, yet forgotten in a single movement. It really amazed Lucy.

"It's fine, Saburo. She's our guest, not our enemy."

Even though Zeref said those word, there was an unspoken truth hanging in the air.

For how long until they were enemies?

Zeref looked at Saburo waiting patiently for him to remove his hood. Hesitantly, Saburo began to lift his hood up, revealing jet black hair. Lucy's breath hitched as he pulled the hood all the way off, shaking his head slightly making it reveal a small pair of light brown horns sprouting from his head. He refused to face her, keeping his vision set on the ground as he scowled.

Zeref watched their interaction with a small smile. He knew that Saburo hated to show his face. Saburo had once told him that it ruined the sense of secrecy he liked to have about him, but Zeref knew the real reason. He didn't like anybody to know what he looked like. When everybody knows what you look like, it ruins so many opportunities you would have had before. That's exactly what Zeref wanted. He wondered if the turnout would be like he predicted.

Porcelain doll. A porcelain doll, that was exactly what Saburo reminded Lucy of. Well, sort of. From his pale complexion that contradicted his dark black hair, blood red eyes, and his dark pink lips. He looked fragile, vulnerable without his hood on.

"What are you looking at?" Saburo growled, causing Lucy threw her arms up in the air.

"Nothing,"

"If you two are finished I'd like to go somewhere if you don't mind," Zeref said stopping any other interaction between them.

"Yes, Lord Zeref,"

"No way in hell!"

The two glared at each other, debating whether or not to kill each other.

"It's quite alright, Lucy, I assure you. You're our guest, I'd never put you in danger." Zeref said looking in her eyes. "I'd like us to continue our conversation without an audience, but if you like it here more, I'd be fine with staying here."

This formal ways and actions were driving Lucy mad.

She glanced around the room at what she assumed were the nobles talking to each other, sending glances in their directions. Lucy could only imagine what they saying about their interaction now. She turned back to Zeref shaking her head slightly.

They left the throne room and entered a much darker room that was only lit with a few light lacrimas around the room. Inside was a small table and four chairs. There was no window making the place seem derriere.

"What has Natsu told you, Lucy?" Zeref asked, walking into the room and occupying one of the chairs Saburo right behind him.

Lucy looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"

"About me, has he told you anything about me? Or you for that matter?" He clarified. Lucy stared at him with a confused expression. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a pity. It would seem we'll have to start from the beginning then."

"What do you mean? Why would Natsu know anything about you, or me for that matter!"

Zeref could tell she was getting frustrated and wanted to avoid that. "I assure you, Natsu knows more than you think."

Lucy was getting angry. First this guy kidnaps her and now he's trying to tell her that her best friend has been lying to her this entire time! Who did this guy think he was?

"How would you know?" She spat out angrily.

"Because I'm his brother."

 **a/n: Okay, so I originally wanted this to be a really big chapter where all answers were going to be revealed and such, but I'm really tired and I've been working on a hidden chapter for a future chapter that I might post tomorrow along with the next chapter.**

 **IN THE NEXT CHAPTER, ALL ANSWERS WILL BE REVEALED!**

 **Or maybe not, I might put in a filler chapter for you all because I know how much people just** _ **love**_ **those! Yeah, let me know if you want one or nah.**

 **Just in case, you wanted to know. Then, we can get on with the rest of the story! Yeah! I can't wait for you guys to know what's going to happen! Like, when I was writing this I just skipped like three-fourths of this chapter to get to the good stuff.**

 **Kinda leaving off on a cliffhanger, but don't hate me for it.**

 **Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **See ya,**

 **bye, bye!**

 **xoxoxo**


	15. 13

**13.**

 **THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW**

Lucy felt like she got the wind knocked out of her. How could her sweet and ever so childish Natsu be related to someone who purposely creates monsters to hurt people? Lucy wasn't sure how exactly to take this newfound information. Zeref was Natsu's brother.

He had to be lying.

From what she knew of Zeref, he was hundreds of years old. So how? How could he his brother then?

The more she thought about it the more it seemed to make sense. How Natsu would always be muttering under his breath all the time. His determination to kill this man before her. Natsu felt like it was his responsibility to kill him.

Lucy began to look for any resemblance between her Dragon Slayer and the Dark Wizard before her. At first, she found none, the obvious traits they could have shared - hair color and eye color weren't there, but as she continued to stare at him, the more she began to see resemblances between the two of them. The shape of their eyes and the shape of their mouths were the same as one another, as well as the shape of their jawline. Even though the resemblances were small, they were there, and it was beginning to freak Lucy out.

"You're the one who made Natsu leave." Lucy gasped out, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Yes," Zeref replied solemnly. "I told him the truth about what happened and he took it wrong."

"What did you tell him exactly?" asked Lucy.

She could barely contain her nerves at this point. All she wanted to do was run get the hell up and run out of there as fast as she could, pretending she never heard a word out of Zeref's mouth, but she couldn't. She wanted answers to the questions that were currently circling in her mind. She knew that Natsu wouldn't give her any answers to her questions seeing on how he failed to tell her about all of this beforehand. So, knowing all this, she awaited the response of the black haired wizard in front of her.

"The truth," Zeref paused looking Lucy in the eye. "About who he was and how he came to be. About his past, present, and future."

Lucy looked at him questionably, "What do you mean?"

Zeref looked thoughtful for a moment.

 _'_ _How much should I tell the girl?'_ Zeref wondered. _'She looks smart enough and a Heartfilia too hmm… it's clear that brother dearest hasn't told her anything. Not even about her own mother and her family history. Hmm, I wonder how she'll take it. It will surely make Natsu angry with me.'_ Zeref thought thoroughly amused with the idea of his brother angry with him. _'If my sources are correct then, right, she's the only female Heartfilia left, so it falls onto her.'_

"M'lord," The deep voice that belonged to Saburo brought Zeref from his thoughts. "Are you going to answer the girl?"

Saburo didn't want to say it, but he was curious about the ordeal currently going on as well. He knew not to speak out of turn, though, a few lashings from Mard Geer taught him that the hard way.

"Yes, I know," Zeref waved him off. "Now, where should we start?

"I don't know, how about from the beginning? That seems like a good place to start if any."

"Your attitude is reprimandable. It makes me not want to tell you anything." Zeref scowled Lucy. She went to open her mouth in a reply but was stopped by Zeref speaking. "Let's start from the beginning then - and no interrupting, darling."

"A little more than four-hundred years ago, a dragon attacked my home, killing my parents and my younger brother-"

"Natsu," Lucy said.

Zeref nodded in confirmation, "Yes correct but don't interrupt darling. Now where were we? Ah, yes, a dragon attacked killing both of my parents and my younger brother, Natsu. Now, I wasn't particularly close with my parents, sure, they were my parents and I loved them dearly, but we weren't close as my younger brother and I had been. Even being five years younger than me, we were always so close to one another. So, when he died I did everything I could to bring him back.

"I went to the Mildian Magic Academy and researched ways to bring my brother back from the dead They, however, did not approve of me trying to bring him back. It went against the teachings of Ankhseram, the god of life and death, so they expelled me from the academy and I was then cursed by Ankhseram and killed everyone around me with the Curse of Contradiction. After that, I began roaming around, creating Etherious to kill me, and successfully finding a way to bring my younger brother back to life. Successfully making someone, or rather, _something_ that could kill me.

"Though, he was not himself. Natsu was now E.N.D. - Etherious Natsu Dragneel. A totally different person than my younger brother had been. I learned the hard way this hadn't to be true. We lived on the floating island that later became Tartaros, Natsu sort of becoming what you would call, the ringleader of all of the Etherious Demons I had made. He became the guild master and everyone looked up to him. Until one day, people attacked us and Natsu retaliated. Attacking them, he transformed into something I'd never expect. Using fire magic, he destroyed them all with one blow.

"Not long after this, Natsu began to transform into the true vision of E.N.D., the one who could kill me, and not the sweet loving brother I had known. Leaving Tartaros, I met with a particular dragon. We became friends and he told me about his plans I told him about my younger brother. We agreed to help one another out; he take my younger brother for his plans while he did this, he promised that he would get Natsu strong enough to kill me."

"Igneel," Lucy gasped out. "You made a deal with Igneel, Natsu's dad."

"Foster Father," Zeref corrected. "But yes, I did. Now listen closely, because this is where it starts to include you and your family."

"My family?"

"Oh yes. The Heartfilia clan has been in on this little secret for centuries. In fact, you're more intertwined into this than you even realize. Now, back to the story, shall we? After Igneel and I agreed to this arrangement I used the book of E.N.D. to lock away Natsu's powers and all his memories of me and the others. Then gave him off to Igneel. About nine years after that, Igneel had called upon me again, telling me it was time."

 **(FLASHBACK START)**

 _"Zeref," Igneel's voice rang out loud and clear, causing the Dark Wizard to turn his head in the direction of the Fire Dragon King. "I see you brought_ that."

 _Igneel spoke with so much animosity in his voice, it almost took Zeref by surprise. After all, the Book of E.N.D. was a part of the child he claimed to love so much._

 _"_ _Igneel, it's been too long, old friend" Zeref greeted. "I figured I would need this. Natsu won't be as easy to do as the others, so I assumed this would help."_

 _"_ _Hmm, Indeed, almost eight years now," Igneel said, swiftly changing the subject._

 _"_ _So it has, hmm," Zeref replied. "Is he here then?"_

 _Igneel nodded his head, "Yes, he is here along with the other four orphans. You can see him if you want though I'm not sure if he'll recognize you."_

 _Zeref let out a sigh, he already knew that Natsu wouldn't recognize him. He was the one who had locked away his brothers memories along with his real power._

 _"_ _No," Zeref spoke out loud to The Fire Dragon King. "I'd rather not because it's just as you said, he most likely won't recognize me anyways."_

 _Zeref walked past him and a looked in the direction the five children were playing in. His eyes trailed over the blue-haired little girl and the two other boys who looked to be about the same age, as his eyes left them they landed on another male who appeared to be older looking than Natsu should have been. Knowing this, he couldn't help but wonder where his younger brother was. He didn't seem to be with these other children._

 _Zeref's eyes wandered from the children huddled together until his eyes landed on the pink-haired boy standing in front of the others with a wide, toothy grin on his face - the grin that he knew so well; the smile was showing off his demonic fangs, one of the only traits he got to keep after his powers were locked away, though, Zeref didn't know why he got to keep any of the traits at all seeing that his true demon self-had been locked away safely inside the book of E.N.D., but that was something to think on later, for his attention was mainly focused on the young, pink-haired dragon slayer._

 _Natsu was standing in front of the others, hands on his hips as he grinned proudly. What it could be about would only be left to wonder. Zeref's breath hitched a slight bit as he stared at the boy. Now that his demon side had been locked away and no longer stunting his growth, he had grown quite a large amount. Before, when he was still with Zeref and the others back at Tartarus,_ _he had been barely mid thigh, now, even from a distance away, Zeref could tell that if he had been standing next to him, he had to be at least up to his stomach, or even a bit taller._

 _'_ My, how you've grown, brother dearest. _' Zeref thought to himself._

 _"_ _So, are you ready?" A new, feminine voice said from behind him. Zeref turned around to be greeted with a blonde-haired girl with deep chocolate brown eyes. "Well, so are we or are aren't we."_

 _Zeref couldn't help but smile at her demanding demeanor. "Anna Heartfilia I presume."_

 _"_ _You presume correctly," Anna said, slightly tilting her head up in a superior way. "From what Igneel has told me, you're Zeref I presume. Older brother to one of these children over here."_

 _Zeref couldn't help the slight smirk that made it's way onto his face. "It seems like someone's done their homework."_

 _"_ _Well, I had to. Working with dragons." Anna said shooting a glance over to Igneel who was standing with the other four dragons. Luckily, he didn't turn this why. "Anyways, do you what we need?"_

 _Zeref paused a moment before nodding. Anna lets out a relieved sigh._

 _They were silent for a moment before Anna spoke once more. "It's almost time. Let's gather the children."_

 _Zeref stood back as he watched Anna go over to the children and bring them closer to the Eclipse Gate. Zeref watched as the dragons one by one came up to their "children" and talked to them, saying their goodbyes. Once they were done, Igneel turned his massive head towards me._

 _"_ _Zeref," His voice out. I nodded over to him and slowly began approaching. "Children, this is Zeref. Don't be afraid, he won't harm you."_

 _"_ _Pff, as if. It's not like someone as weak as that guy could kill me." Spoke the black haired child with piercings on his face._

 _"_ _Gajeel," Metalicana growled causing the boy to look away with a regretful look on his face. "Hold your tongue boy."_

 _The boy, Gajeel, mumbled some incoherent words under his breath but otherwise said nothing further._

 _"_ _Now, Zeref won't you let me introduce you to these children here. This is Sting." Igneel said pointing to the blond boy. "That's Rogue," He said pointing to the bald one. "That's Gajeel and Wendy," He said pointing to the little blue haired girl and the boy who spoke out earlier. "And last but not least, Zeref, this is Natsu. Natsu, this is Zeref."_

 _Natsu looked up at Zeref curiously with bright green eyes. They made him feel nostalgic as he stared down at them. If this is how he felt after eight years he wondered how he would do after four-hundred years._

 _"_ _Hello, Natsu, everyone." Zeref spoke, breaking eye contact with his little sibling and looking towards the other four children. "So, who's first?"_

 _"_ _First for what?" Asked the little blue-haired girl known as Wendy._

 _"_ _This man is going to put you to sleep for a while," Grandine spoke to her 'daughter'._

 _"_ _But why?"_

 _"_ _Because we have to leave for a little bit and don't want you to miss us too much." Grandine said with a small smile._

 _"_ _Oh,"_

 _Zeref walked over to the little girl who stood by Grandine and placed his free hand on her forehead. He locked eyes with Anna who only nodded her head in return and started the spell to open the Eclipse Gate._

 _"_ _Ready?" Zeref asked the girl who only nodded in return. Zeref began to chant words under his breath, slowly taking away her memories of the past day. Once he was done, the girl collapsed onto the ground, knocked out cold._

 _One by one Zeref erased and planted new memories into the four children until all that was left was his younger brother, Natsu._

 _"_ _Natsu, Zeref is going to have to do something different with you," Igneel said which made Natsu frown._

 _"_ _Why can't you just treat me like the other four you did over there?" Natsu asked._

 _Zeref smiled, kneeling down in front of his, keeping the hand that held the book of E.N.D. off the ground. He was now eye level with the boy._

 _"_ _It's because you're special, Natsu." Zeref spoke lovingly but quickly had to push the warm feeling he was getting from talking to his brother to the back of his head as he felt the Curse of Contradiction began to form. No, he wouldn't lose control, not yet at least. "You're more special than those other four, and a lot stronger too. When the day comes, you'll remember all of this and more. "_

 _"_ _Zeref!" Igneel hissed angrily._

 _Zeref ignored him and gently placed a hand on Natsu's head and while the other on the book. Just like the others, he began to sort out the memories from today, but instead of getting rid of them for good, he placed them on The Book of E.N.D._

 _"_ _Done," Zeref said, gently closing The Book of E.N.D._

 _Natsu didn't pass out like the others. No, he seemed to be in some sort of dazed state. He was just standing there with a blank look in his eye._

 _Zeref wasn't sure what to feel but luckily, he didn't have to, because the moment after he got rid of Natsu's memories, he heard Anna Heartfilia scream, out and the unmistakable sound of metal scraping against stone was heard._

 _Zeref turned his head towards the noise and watched in awe as the Eclipse Gates' doors slowly began to open. It wasn't long after they were open that he began to see some figure walking towards them. It was a woman wearing an elegant pink dress and dragging a small cart behind her. She was blond and had brown eyes just like Anna Heartfilia._

 _"_ _Hello," The woman said, looking around until her eyes landed on Anna. A gentle smile graced her lips. "Anna Heartfilia, I presume. You don't know how long I've been waiting to meet you."_

 _Anna smiled back, pulling her in for a hug. "Well, I'm sorry to make you wait for so long."_

 _They pulled apart then turned to look at us. "Hello, I'm Layla Heartfilia. These are the children I presume."_

 _"_ _Yes," Igneel's gruff voice came. Layla turned to look up at him in awe._

 _"_ _We're ready for everything then, shall we begin?" Weisslogia asked._

 _"_ _No, one moment please," Zeref said, walking over to Layla Heartfilia. He reached into his long, drape of a sleeve a produced two bottles. The slightly larger one with little brown balls, and the other with little green balls. He handed them over to Layla who took them hesitantly. "These are to get rid of their memories when you separate them. One of them gets rid of a week's worth of memories, two get rid of two week's worth of memories, so on and so forth. These brown ones here go to the four lying on the ground there, but these green ones go to the little pink haired boy. Do you understand?"_

 _Layla nodded._

 _"_ _Good." Zeref turned to Igneel and the other dragons. "Now you may proceed."_

 _He stepped back and watched as the dragons did Dragon Soul Technique and placed themselves inside the dragon slayers. He watched as Layla too the children, taking a dazed Natsu by the hand and with the others in the cart, she left through the gate doors which closed behind her._

 _Suddenly four-hundred years seemed like an eternity._

 _With no glance back to Anna, Zeref left without a word._

 **(FLASHBACK END)**

"I saw Anna once or twice after that, but never for long," Zeref said. "And that eventually lead to her death."

Lucy was in shock trying to wrap her mind around what Zeref had just told her. Her mom was the one who brought her friends back the past, and she never told her? She couldn't believe it. No, wouldn't is more like it. But, even though she would try and deny it, she knew deep down it was true.

Suddenly she was angrier with Natsu now more than ever.

"I'm sure this is a lot to take in," Zeref said. "I should-"

Before Zeref could finish, the door in which they had come in through was kicked off its hinges revealing a pissed off looking Natsu and an out of place looking Gajeel.

"Awe, brother. How kind of you to show up." Zeref said with a taunting smile. "But your timing is reprimandable. You just missed story time."

Natsu looked around the room until his eyes landed on Lucy. He visibly flinched as he saw her face. Suddenly, he understood what 'story time' was.

And he hated it with every fiber of his being.

 **a/n: dunt DuNt DUNT! Oh, I hope it was everything you wished for and more! Don't worry, Nalu moment next chapter, and don't get mad at me for next chapter either. I'm just saying this once right now and if you don't read the author's notes then, well, you missed out.**

 **It's not forever, so don't get your panties in a twist.**

 **Now, you'll figure out what I mean next chapter!**

 **Sorry this update was late, I've been sick, hell, I'm still sick, but I realized I really should update so here I am, fighting through the pain of strep throat just so you guys can have something to read, to fill that empty void in your soul that needs constant Nalu (or any of your story pairings that you read really) story updates to survive.**

 **Anyways.**

 **All the love,**

 **Your faithful writer**


	16. 14

**14.**

 **THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW**

Gajeel wasn't sure either or not to be amazed with the fire dragon slayer in front of him, or horrified. After he had caught up with Natsu after he left the guild and told him that he'd be joining him and Happy he was sure he'd be of great help to them, but once they got to the castle and the guards tried to stop them from entering, with one flick of Natsu's wrist, the flames from the torches they were holding went out towards their faces, melting their helmets to their armor, making it so they couldn't see where they were going, while it also made it virtually impossible for the guards to follow them.

Gajeel watched these latest two get their masts melted and many others before them, feeling kind of useless. He wasn't the only one, Happy was feeling kind of left out as he stayed back with Gajeel, but he didn't feel nearly as left out as Gajeel did.

Here Gajeel was, suppose to help Natsu get his Bunny Girl back, but all he was doing was standing back and watch as the pyro before him was doing all the work. It kind of made him pissed off at the sight. Here he was wanting to get Lucy back just as much as Natsu, but the damn bastard wouldn't let him help! He was about to storm up there and yell at Natsu for not letting him help, but when an unexpected voice came from behind him, he reared around and turned to face her.

"Levy! What are you doing here?" Happy cried out as he walked over closer to the newcomers.

Levy stood right behind them with a guilty looking Panther Lily held tightly in her arms tied up with rope. A few others from the guild were with her- Laxus, Freed, Jet, and Lisanna stood behind her each with a different expression on their face, yet they all had the same look in their eyes as they looked at Gajeel and Natsu. Gajeel recognized that emotion right away, of course he would, because he knew it well. It seemed Gajeel seen it everyday recently. Day after day he looked at his bunny and he felt it.

Conflict.

They didn't want to do what he presumed they were sent to do. This could work in his and the pyro's favor. If Gajeel could just persuade them to leave before a fight broke out, then they could get to Lucy faster. Just how was stumping Gajeel.

"Look who it is, hey, Salamander, it seems we have some familiar faces here." Gajeel gave Levy a smug look as he greeted her. "Hey Shrimp, what are you doing here? Weren't you all supposed to be back in Magnolia with the rest of the guild?"

"I'm sorry Gajeel, Wendy called them and they rushed over. They forced me to help them find you." Panther Lily said, averting his eyes from Gajeel's.

"It's okay, Lily. You shouldn't have to be sorry for being with your comrades. You should feel comfortable with them knowing they wouldn't do anything to harm you." Gajeel said not taking his eyes off the party before him. He waited a moment letting his words sink in before turning to Levy. "So, Shrimp, are yah gonna answer me or not?"

"Master sent us ahead three days after you left." Levy spoke with a melancholy tone. "Cana checked her cards and said something didn't feel right, so we came here as fast as we could and we find out that you and Natsu went AWOL after taking out Erza."

The grin fell from Gajeel's face as anger replaced it. "You don't know the whole story."

"Gray filled us in," Jet said from behind Levy as he proceeded to glare at Gajeel. "Look, we know about Lucy. Yeah, it really fucking sucks that she got taken, but taking out your friends, and disobeying masters direct orders isn't the way to go. Come back with us and we'll wait for what Master Makarov says, then we can come for Lucy."

Natsu, who had walked up beside Gajeel a few moments prior to Jet speaking, was looking at him, a looking of rage passing over his features. "What about Lucy, then? What happens to her when we're off twiddling our thumbs waiting for our _orders_ and she's here with that bastard for longer and longer periods of time?"

"Lucy's my best friend do you really think I would let her stay here if I thought she was going to die?" Levy asked, squeezing Lily harder, causing him to let out a small painful grunt.

"We have reason to believe that Zeref won't touch her." Jet added.

Gajeel snorted, "What, Canna's cards? Like I believe in that bullshit."

"Well, Canna and her cards have-"

"I can't take that chance." Natsu spoke, cutting off Jet mid sentence. "Lucy's in danger, so I'm going after her. You can come with me or not it doesn't really matter, but you _will not_ stop me. You can try, but I'll take you out just like I did Erza."

It was silent between them as they considered Natsu's comment. It was Laxus who broke the silence; his usual bored, uncaring expression changed into a curious one as he stared at Natsu.

"So you'd go against the guild that you were raised in for this girl." Laxus said, but didn't give Natsu time to reply as he went on. "You'd leave everything you know behind because of a girl who you've already left once."

"That was a mistake," Natsu quickly said glaring at Laxus.

"But you _have_ already left her once, so why not do it again? You can leave here now, and when Gramps gives the say so we can come after her."

"No, I won't leave her again. I've already made that mistake once when she wasn't in trouble, and I regret it dearly. So, if I leave her while she's in trouble, then that makes me lower than dirt. I would never betray her in her time of need, and the fact that you can," Natsu took a step forward as he began to talk again. "means that the Fairy Tail that I knew three years ago is not the Fairy Tail that is here now. The guild I see before is me a guild who abandons their friends in their time of need, and if that is true, that is not the kind of guild I'd want to be in. Now, I can't speak for Happy and Gajeel, but if that's how it is then I might as well take off my guild mark right now."

Gasps were heard all a crossed the room from almost everybody. They couldn't believe what they just heard. Taking off your own guildmark was just as bad as being excommunicated. You were going against your guild, and basically spitting in their face. Everyone but a handful of people who have taken off their own guild marks have had a bad reputation for being power hungry.

"Natsu, please, you can't mean that!" Lisanna cried out, moving to go to Natsu, but being held back by Freed.

"You know what that means, don't you Natsu." Freed said as he held a crying Lisanna in his arms.

Natsu nodded.

Something flashed in Laxus eyes as he saw Natsu's conviction, and as he realized the foundation for it and what it thrived off of, he couldn't help but let a small smile fall past his lips. The idiot was in love with her. Laxus never thought he'd see the day when the flame-for-brains idiot would actually fall in love, but here it was, and knowing that he wanted to protect the women that he loved, Laxus couldn't stop him. He wouldn't help him, but he wouldn't stop him from doing what was needed to be done.

"Well then," Laxus began, "if your conviction is so great, then I'm not going to stop you, but I won't help you either."

"Laxus!" Freed cried out, turning to him in shock.

"We can't let him go! You know what Master said!" Levy said.

Laxus ignored them, turning around and seemingly began walking away.

"Save the girl you love, Natsu. If you don't I'll kick your ass." He muttered only loud enough for dragon slayers to hear.

Natsu was shocked for a moment, he couldn't believe that Laxus had found off, but he quickly got over the initial shock and smiled a little.

"I will,"

And with that, he turned around and began to take off in the direction where Lucy's scent was.

"Hey!" Gajeel said, taking off after him. "

"Natsu wait up!" Happy said flying after them.

Levy, Freed, Lisanna, and, of course, Panther Lily were torn where to go. Luckily, they didn't have to wait long, because soon after Panter Lily escaped Levy's grasp and began to run after Gajeel and the others.

"Panther Lily, wait!" Levy called out about to chase after them, even Laxus' voice stopped her.

"I wouldn't do that," Laxus said, causing them to turn around. Behind them were soldiers that were starting to surround them. "We have business here, if you still want to after them after we take care of these guys, fine, but for now we have a job to do."

Natsu was running down the hall following Lucy's scent when he felt a hand grab his shoulder and yank him around. There stood an angry Gajeel with an annoyed Panther Lily with Happy not far behind him staring at him with determined eyes.

"Hey," Gajeel said, yanking him around. "Are you even sure she is this way? I can't catch her scent anywhere."

Natsu turned his face from him and sniffed the air. Gajeel was right by saying that Lucy's scent wasn't in the air, but there was one scent in the air that Natsu knew very well that he was sure that would leave him to her. Without replying, he turned back around and took off into a run towards the direction the scent was coming from. Gajeel and the exceeds grumbled with their distain before chasing after him.

It didn't take Natsu long to pinpoint the exact location of Zeref. He was in the backroom of the throne room, and now that he was closer, he could smell Lucy as well. Her scent was laced with the strong scent of fear that drove Natsu mad with anger. He promised himself that if Zeref even laid one hand on Lucy he would kill him slowly. He heard Gajeel's heavy footsteps from behind him, so he wasted no time in kicking down the door.

What he was met with was nothing like he had imagined. Lucy sat there, her shocked facial expression soon turning to anger as she began glaring at Natsu, tears starting to fall down her face. Natsu looked away from Lucy to the other two men in the room. One was one that Natsu had never met before, but Natsu didn't care to pay much attention to him as he caught the look on his older brother's face.

"Awe, brother. How kind of you to show up." Zeref aid with a taunting smile. "But your timing is reprimandable. You just missed story time."

Zeref sat there, smirking at Natsu and that's when Natsu knew that Zeref had told her everything. Natsu turned his face back to Lucy, his mind raking for something, anything, to say to her, but all his mind could comprehend at the moment was his regret for not being the one to tell her.

"Lucy," Natsu whispered, his face full of regret.

"Master," Said the other man in the room. "Would you like me to get rid of these pests?"

Zeref turned to him, giving him a glare. "Watch your tongue, Saburo. That's my brother, and you're older you're talking about."

Saburo frowned, but otherwise didn't say a word as he watched as the two couple in front of him interact with each other.

"So it is true then, and you're not even going to try and deny it." Lucy let out a little laugh, wiping her tears of frustration from her cheeks and turned away from him.

"Lucy, I..." Natsu stared, but didn't know exactly what to say, so he let himself trail off. Lucy turned her head to look at him.

"You know, Natsu, I didn't care about the fact that you're Zeref's brother, or the fact that you knew my mother. It's the fact that I had to find out from what I considered my enemy, rather than the person I'm in-" Lucy stopped mid sentence, turning away from him, her cheeks colored. "Rather than the person I trust more than anything, but now, now I'm not too sure."

"Look, Lucy, the reason why I didn't tell you was because I had just figured out everything I had know about myself was wrong. I had to get away to clear my head, and when I came back and seen how you practically hated me, I just couldn't bring myself to give you more reasons to hate me." Natsu said, taking a step into the room to get closer to Lucy. "You have to believe me Lucy, when have I ever given you a reason to not. Look Lucy I-"

"Hey, hey, hey," Gajeel said shoving Natsu to the side, and pushing his way into the room. "We can have time to chit-chat later, right now, we have to beat these two and get Lucy out of here. Bunny and I will take out the bastard in the cloak over there, and you can have Zeref."

Natsu nodded, knowing that Lucy would be safe with Gajeel. "Fine, but if I kill mine before you kill yours, then you're going to have to walk around the guild wearing nothing but Levy's panties and underwear."

Gajeel smirked turning around to face Natsu. "You're on Salamander, but if I win then you have to admit how much you love Gray."

They smirked at each other, before turning back to their designated opponents.

"Saburo," Zeref called out, making him turn his head to him. "Don't kill them, now."

Saburo nodded before turning back to Lucy and Gajeel, he took off his hood to take a better look at his two opponents, analyzing them. The girl, Lucy, didn't seem too hard, dodging her attacks would be easy enough, but the one with metal on his face would be a different story.

"Saburo, I don't want to fight you." Lucy said, standing slightly behind Gajeel, keys in hand.

"Hnn, it was inevitable." Saburo said, taking a fighting stance. "We are enemies after all, nothing will change that."

"Still, I don't like fighting you. I don't think you're a bad person Subaru, I just think you're on the wrong side of things. Stop this now and Jeel and I won't have to hurt you." Lucy begged.

Saburo, let out a dry laugh, " _You_ hurt _me,_ ha! If anyone with be hurting anyone then it shall be I. You forget something, women. You two are merely human while I am a demon. The third most powerfullest other than my two eldest, only to be overpowered by Mard Geer and Lord E.N.D. himself."

He snapped his fingers and a white, glowing, ball appeared at the tip of his fore finger. "Now, get ready, humans. I'll show you just how insignificant your race is."

The pink-haired dragon slayer stood in front of the dark wizard, flexing his fingers in anticipation. He had been waiting for this moment for three years now, and the fact that Zeref was acting like he wasn't even going to be a challenge was really pissing him off.

"How nice it is to see you again, little brother," Zeref said, pulling The Book of E.N.D. to his chest. "Since we're making wagers today, then how about we make one as well."

"I'm not going to play games with you, Zeref," Natsu said coldly.

"Oh! But my dearest brother! What is the fun in that?" Zeref asked, throwing his arms up. "How about this, if you let me read you a verse, then I won't fight back afterward. Seem fair?"

Natsu didn't answer, just stared at his elder brother. Zeref took that as a yes, opening the book in his hand to the first page. He began to read something that was totally foreign to him, yet seemed so familiar, as if he had heard this words before.

Natsu's chest began to get warm as Zeref continued to speak until it felt as if there was a knife jabbing into his chest, like something inside of him was clawing at his chest, begging to come out.

"Toi qui a été pris au piège depuis trop longtemps,"

Natsu left out a cough clenching his chest as he fell to his knees.

"Toi qui est l'identité a été disparu, pour être remplacé par ce faux être claming ta gloire."

Blood began to fall from his mouth as he coughed harder and his hand clenched his chest. It felt as if he was being forced out of his own body, but his whole body was being ripped out in the process.

"Avancer,"

Natsu, began to cough even harder and he felt his world go black as more and more blood fell past his lips, hitting the ground in front of him, landing in _splats._

"Et J'appelle toi qui a été enfermé. Tu comment enfermé, caché profondément dans cette âme vaisseaux . J'appelle E.N.D., le seigneur démon. Awaken de votre sommeil, cher frère."

With that last part, Natsu landed face first into his own blood.

"Ah," Lucy cried out as her head began to throb painfully as she managed to dodge another one of Subaru's attacks as Gajeel charged him again. Her head was hurting for seemingly no reason, and it was affecting her performance.

Dodging one of the white, glowing, orbs Lucy looked over to Natsu seeing him laying down on the ground, Zeref standing over him with The Book of E.N.D. laying open in his hand.

"Gajeel!" She cried out with desperation. "Something's wrong with Natsu!"

Gajeel looked back to Natsu, before his eyes widened. ' _Salamander's down that quickly. Damn.'_

"Go to him," Said Gajeel, fending off another attack from Subaru.

Lucy nodded, leaving the fight with Subaru and ran off to Natsu's side, ignoring Zeref as she leaned over Natsu's body shaking him slowly. When he didn't respond, she pushed him over, and gasped as she saw Natsu's face covered in blood, his mouth open agape, and his eyes staring unblinkingly at the ceiling. She felt tears run down her face as she stared at him.

"Natsu, this isn't funny." She said as she shook his body.

"Natsu," she tried again, this time shaking harder. Still, he didn't move. Lucy began to wipe away the blood on Natsu's face seeming that there were no facial injuries.

"Natsu, please." Lucy said shaking him even harder. When he still didn't respond, she looked up at Zeref, tears running down her face. "What did you do to him! What did you do to Natsu?"

Zeref turned away from Lucy. "That's quite enough, Subaru."

Lucy began panicking, shaking Natsu harder and harder still trying to get a response from him. Finally she thought to check his breathing. That was when all hell broke lose.

"He's not breathing," She said barely above a whisper. Lucy ripped open his vest, placing her ear over his muscular chest, checking for a heartbeat finding none. "No, no, no, no, no, NO! Natsu, you can't be dead! Please, please, please! No!"

Tears fell down her face like waterfalls as she put her head against Natsu's chest, weeping. The other in their company watched with shock stricken faces. Happy was the first to break out of it, focusing his anger Zeref.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Happy screamed at Zeref, who only looked at the exceed with blank, expressionless eyes. "WHY DID YOU KILL MY BEST FRIEND?"

This brought on a whole new wave of tears from Lucy. "No, you can't leave me Natsu. You can't leave me, because you promised you'd never hurt me again, and you leaving hurts Natsu. It hurts because I love you, Natsu. I love you so much, so don't leave me please."

Gajeel's heart ached to hear her say those words to anyone else but him, but he couldn't dwell on that now. Someone was coming and the by the sounds of it, it didn't sound good at all. He walked over to Lily and told him to get Happy, that they had to leave now.

He walked over to Lucy, going to pick up her arm to pull her off of Natsu's remains, but she wouldn't let go. "Come on, we have to leave."

Lucy didn't respond as she only held Natsu tighter to her, shaking her head. Gajeel tried again with no luck.

"Life isn't worth living if he isn't in it."

This made Gajeel angry. Sure, she had a right to be sad that Natsu was dead, but saying shit like that was crossing the line. He angrily yanked her off of the dead body with all the force he could muster. Lucy let out a yelp as she was pulled from Natsu's body and thrown over Gajeel's shoulder. She immediately began to scream to be let down, but Gajeel would have none of it as he took off out of the room and down the hall. The exceeds were ahead of him, scouting out for enemies. Lucy was wailing at Gajeel's back, scratching, kicking, doing anything she could to try to get Gajeel to let her down.

"Gajeel I hate you!" She screamed, through her tears.

"ENOUGH!" Gajeel yelled shutting her up. "Dear fuck, Lucy! Do you think that Natsu was the only one who cared for you? The only one who loves you? No, everyone cares for you. _I_ care for you. Shrimp, red-headed bitch, and the stripper do as well.

"If you die than not only will people be morning Natsu, but you as well, and your unnecessary death would do nothing to help Natsu. He's already dead. There's no changing that. So just shut the fuck up and cry if you want, but either way I'm saving your life even if you don't want it."

Lucy was quiet as she listen to Gajeel. Everything he said was true and she knew now wasn't the time for a break down, but she couldn't help it.

Natsu was dead and gone when she just thought she had gottened him back.

 **a/n: HEY HEY HEY I'M BACK! Sorry I haven't updated in forever, but my laptop was messing up so I had to send it in to get it fixed.**

 **Forgive me?**

 **Anyways, tell me what you thought of this chapter and what not.**

 **AND, I'll dedicate the next chapter to whoever can guess what language I wrote what Zeref had spoken in.**

L **ove,**

 **meh**

 **(** _ **NOT EDITED)**_


	17. 15

**DEDICATED TO 0FairyTail0 for getting it right first. Sorry if you think it's a sad chapter I'll post a happy chapter dedicated to you next time.**

 **ANYWAYS, a lot of you got it right, but they were first so it's dedicated to them. But because I love you here's to you anyways.**

 **SHOUT OUT TO GUIDix, Just a Typical Anime Lover, MSAC, miske and WHOEVER SAID IT WAS IN FRENCH! You all should check out their shit if they post anything because I'm sure it's cool. If they don't that's cool too I guess. Look at them anyways you might find out some stories you haven't read before that they have. I do that with you guys all the time. Some of you read weird shit.**

 **BACK TO WHAT I WAS SAYING.**

 **It was in french because I think that language is sexy and I think Zeref is sexy too so… anyways those who google translated it have a head start on the rest of you all to knowing what's going on.**

 **OH! Important (a/n) at the end so if you don't read it usually then just DO IT! It might apply to you.**

 **I've wasted enough if your time with this stuck with the whole thing and didn't skip ahead.**

 **SO ONTO CHAPTER…**

 **15.**

 **LUCY HEARTFILIA**

Three days four hours and forty-nine seconds since Natsu died.

I felt my throat close up and tears come to my eyes just at the thought of it. I blinked away the tears, taking in a deep breath. Now was not the time for tears, especially since I was waiting to go talk with Master Makarov. I had to seem strong even though I'm sure that he knew I wasn't at the time.

Master Makarov and the rest of the guild who could come, came two days ago and Master had been interviewing everyone who was here about the whole trip. He wanted to save Gajeel, Happy, Panther Lily, and I for last so he could get a whole layout of what happened from start to end. Gajeel was in there with him right now, and it was my turn next, but I didn't want to stay inside, so I decided to sit outside on the steps of the inn waiting for Gajeel to come and get me.

It wasn't long until I felt a hand wrap around mine, and lacing our fingers together. I turn to see Levy standing there with a small smile on her lips. I tried to smile back, but it seemed more like a grimace than a smile.

"Hey," Levy said, sitting down on the steps next to me.

"Hey," I replied weakly, my voice still hoarse from all the crying I've done.

"How are you holding up?" She asked.

"Fine," _Liar._

Levy let out a sigh as she leaned up against me, looking up at the stars. We sat there quietly for a moment before Levy decided to speak again.

"Look, Lucy," Levy began not taking her gaze off of the stars. "I know you love him."

I turned to her, my eyes widening in shock. I had never told her that before. I went to open my mouth in reply, but nothing seemed to come out. Levy turned towards me with a small smile gracing her lips.

"It's okay, I won't tell anyone, even though I'm sure they all know anyways. It was obvious you two were in love even if you didn't know it already." Levy smiled returning her attention to the sky. "I can't say I know what you're going through, nor can I say I feel your pain. I know we're not really close anymore, you preferring to confide in Gajeel rather than me, but I'm still here for you if you need a shoulder to cry on. If you need someone to talk to."

I felt tears spring to my eyes as I recalled all the times I had blown Levy off and practically ignored her to go and hang out with Gajeel, whom I knew she had a crush on. "Why? I was so mean to you."

Levy let out a little laugh, "it's okay Lucy. I don't mind, really. When Natsu and the rest of Team Natsu left. I can understand why you did what you did. I always talked about Natsu and the others, reminiscing in the past. Gajeel never talked about them, so I get it. He's always been like that, sensing the mood before speaking."

"Yeah," I said turning to gaze at the stars as well. "He's a good guy."

"So was Natsu, and I can't help but feel a little responsible for his death," She admitted. "It was our job to bring Natsu and the others back, but we failed, so we lost Natsu in the end."

"Levy, you have it know it wasn't your fault. When Natsu makes up his mind, he's going to do whatever it is."

"'The guild I see before is me a guild who abandons their friends in their time of need, and if that's true, that is not the kind of guild I'd want to be in.'" Levy spoke, with a small hint of bitterness. "Natsu said that to us when we tried to bring him back. It's a bit funny, isn't it. How lowly we've become. How we're willing to give up our friends. Natsu was right, that's not a guild I want to be in either. Lucy, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for you and for Natsu. I should have been on Natsu's side coming to save you."

"I'm sorry too, Levy. For not being a good friend." I replied, turning towards her to see her already looking at me. "Forgive me?"

"Only if you forgive me," She replied.

"Friends?"

"Friends."

I leaned in for a hug which she graciously gave. We sat there embracing each other, tears running down both of our cheeks as we hugged. Sometimes, you need a hug even when you don't think you need one.

Some time after that, with Levy and I still hugging each other, Gajeel had appeared clearing his throat to make his presence known. We both turned our hands at the sound, bonking our heads together. We both laughed releasing each other and turning to face Gajeel. He stood there with a questioning expression.

"Bunny, the master wants you." Gajeel's gruff voice said, reminding me of the reality I was in, momentarily wiping the smile off my face. It quickly came back as Levy and I hugged once more, her whispering a good luck before I stood up and followed him inside.

"You've been crying," Gajeel noted as we walked down the hallway, stopping mid-stride to turn back to me. He stood right in front of me, checking my face for something, I couldn't quite decipher. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I replied, wiping the tears away from my cheeks. "I just realized how bad of a friend I had been."

Gajeel shook his head, bring his hand up to wipe up a few stray tears. "I wouldn't say you're a bad friend, bunny. You two just grew apart for a while. The fact that you and Shrimp are friends still friends, after all, you've been through, says a lot."

I smiled, placing my hand over Gajeel's. "We're friends too, Gajeel. No, we're more than that. You're like a brother to me, if I lost you I wouldn't know how to cope."

Something flashed across his face, but before I could decipher it, it was gone. His blood red eyes seem to harden after that, as he placed one hand behind my head, leaning in to place a kiss on my forehead.

"Me either, Lucy, me either," Gajeel said, pulling me in for a small hug before we continued down the hall to the room where Master Makarov was staying.

As we reached the door, I said my goodbyes to Gajeel who assured me that he would be right outside the door, and I went inside to talk with Master Makarov.

Master Makarov was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room one was right across from him. He gestured for me to sit down in the chair across from him. It was silent for a moment as I got myself situated. I kept my gaze on the ground not wanting to look at him.

"Lucy," Master spoke. "What happened my child?"

I took in a deep breath before reciting my side of the story, about how when we got here I was kidnapped, Zeref telling me his story, Natsu, and the others coming to my rescue, Natsu falling to the ground and laying there dead.

"Hm, so there were no visual wounds on his body." I shook my head no not trusting my voice. "And Zeref told you about being his brother." I nodded. Makarov's eyes narrowed as he seemed lost in thought. "Then it has happened. She warned me about it, so I don't know why I'm so surprised."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Master Makarov turned towards me, his brows creased.

"Tell me, Lucy what do you remember from your childhood?" He asked, totally dodging the question.

"What do you mean? My mother died when I was younger and my father never paid much attention to me. What does this have to do with anything?" I asked, getting slightly frustrated with him.

"What about before your mother died?" He asked avoiding my questions.

"What does this have to do with anything?" I huffed, slightly glaring at him.

"Humor me," Master said, looking at me intensely.

I let out a deep breath before deciding to oblige him. It has hard to remember that far back and as I did so my head started to hurt. At first, it was slight, but it soon gradually became worse until it mimicked the pain I felt when I was fighting Subaru with Gajeel. I grabbed my head with both of my hands letting out a groan.

I seemed to lose consciousness from all the pain I was feeling in my head.

 **THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW**

" _Hi, my name's Lucy." The young blond-haired girl said as she walked up to the pink-haired boy sitting in the middle of the garden._

 _His green eyes widened in shock and even jumped a little at her sudden appearance. He stared at her shocked for a minute before mumbling a reply._

" _You should speak up, I couldn't hear you," She said, sitting down next to him in the grass._

 _"I'm Natsu," He replied a little louder, making her smile joyfully._

" _Well, do you wanna play, Natsu?" He scoffed turning his head away from her._

" _NO! I don't play with girls." Lucy felt tears swell up in her eyes from his harsh words. Tears began to stream down her cheeks as sniffled._

 _Natsu heard her sniffles and as he sniffed the air he smelt the saltiness of her tears causing him to panic. He whipped back around to stare at her as she cried. He jumped up reaching his arms out to comfort her but quickly brought them down to his sides on further thought. He began to get even more frustrated with his lack of help preventing her tears that he finally screamed out the first thing in his mind._

" _FINE I'LL PLAY WITH YOU!" He screamed. The blond-haired little girl sniffled looking up at him._

" _Really?" She asked her bottom lip quivering._

" _Uh," Natsu said, looking at her. "Yeah."_

" _Ya!" Lucy said, jumping up off the ground, and jumping on him embracing him with a hug. Natsu's cheeks reddened as she did this, and he let her grip his hand as she pulled him away towards the Heartfilia mansion, telling him all the games that they could play._

'So, it has happened,' Makarov thought as he watched Lucy fall out the chair, and her eyes rolling to the back of her head as she began muttering to herself. 'I hoped this day would never come.'

"Gajeel," Makarov called out. Gajeel appeared not a moment later, looking at him with confusion. "Would you mind taking Lucy to Mira."

Gajeel looked down on the ground, his expression turning to panic as he gazed upon the girl. He quickly ran up to her pulling her body into his lap as he kneeled in front of her. "Lucy, honey, wake up."

"She passed out after I told her we recovered Natsu's body, and that he was indeed dead." Makarov lied.

"But that's not true. When we went back there Natsu's body was gone along with Zeref and his men." Gajeel growled.

"It's better than the alternative, telling her he's still alive would only cause her unwanted stress. It's better this way, not knowing." Makarov replied solemnly. "Take her to Mira, please."

Gajeel paused for a moment, before lifting up her body bridal style and leaving the room. Makarov let out a sigh as he walked up to the window gazing up at the stars.

"Are you still Natsu, or are you E.N.D.." Makarov spoke to himself, as he gazed.

 **NATSU DRAGNEEL**

I've taken 12262 breathes.

12263\. I breathe in.

12264\. I breathe out.

12265\. I breathe in.

12266\. I breathe out.

12267\. I opened up my eyes and looked up at the cement wall.

12268\. I opened up my mouth and took in a deep breath as I arched my back.

12269\. I let out a scream as I felt the muscle and skin of my back tear open, wings sprout from my back, staying there for a moment before retracting back into my body, starting the progress all over again.

12270\. I breathe in.

12271\. I breathe out.

' _How long until this pain ends?'_ I close my eyes together tighter in pain as I felt my mouth ache and my teeth throbbed.

12272\. I breathe in.

12273\. I breathe out.

12274\. I breathe in. My skin burned as if someone was branding from the inside out.

12275\. I breathe out.

12276\. I breathe out.

' _Just keep counting.'_

12277\. I breathe in.

12278\. I breathe out.

 **a/n: HEY GUYS! Sorry for all those who read** _ **Dangerous Love**_ **and** _ **Regain**_ **they're going on hold for a while because I don't have enough time to post three stories once a week. Updating them should be back up soon after I get a bit towards the end of** _ **Demon Within**_ **, or if have more than an hour to write a day, I'll post more updates.**

 **So, yeah, tell me what you think is happening to Natsu, even though I'm pretty sure you already know. Do you like this chapter? I had a lot of fun writing this one. I actually had to cut out some parts that I might make into a hidden chapter, later on, IDK.**

 **I'm really surprised that a lot of you hate Gajeel so much. I actually like him quite a bit. Although, I can understand why you hate him. He's getting in the way of Nalu. Don't worry, there will be more of that to come.**

 **Okay, goodbye, for now, my lovelies. Don't miss me too much m'kay.**

 **Love,**

 **Me.**


	18. 16

**16.**

 **THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW**

The cold wind blew through his ebony hair sending whips of hair flying behind him. It's not like he cared at the time. Thoughts swirled in his head like a whirl of endless waves desperately trying to reach the shore. His emotions fared no better. He was torn between telling Lucy the truth, or turning and hiding his shame under the rug and pretending it never happened. The only people who knew were both him, the redhead, and Makarov, so it wouldn't be hard to keep covered up. He was more tempted to lean that way. Just imagining the look on his Lucy's face when he told her what was really going on.

The thought of it makes a scowl appear on Gajeel's face. He remembered the way Lucy looked when the pyro left. She was completely broken, though, Gajeel highly doubted that she would be that heartbroken over him - his heart ached at the reminder of her platonic feelings - just thinking of him causing any pain to her broke him.

He would never intentionally hurt her, he just made the promise before the reality of the situation had weighed down on him, and before he knew it he was so deep in, he didn't know how to get out. He couldn't get out. Makarov wouldn't allow it. The red-haired bitch wouldn't allow it, his logic wouldn't allow it.

Yet, he couldn't help but see the wrong in their actions, in everyone who was involved. It couldn't be helped. He knew the stakes. He knew what he was in for when he agreed. He knew the burden, in fact, he enjoyed it, he thrived for it. The amount of thought that had been going on in the making of this plan, the deception it involved. He couldn't help himself at the time.

Walking back inside and looking at the sleeping blond below him, he knew it was true. The time was soon for him to pay the price for his actions.

 **(FLASHBACK START)**

 **THREE YEARS AND AGO: THREE MONTHS AFTER NATSU LEFT**

 _Gajeel sat down at a table at the Fairy Tail guild hall. There were other people there as well, though you couldn't tell, the once lively place had been transformed almost drastically. No longer was this place a thriving house of mischief and misconduct. It was now only the same place on outside appearance only. If Gildarts had walked into this place right now, he would have turned back around and right through a wall, thinking he was in wrong place. Gajeel wouldn't blame him. Half the time he wanted to leave this place as well, looking for the real Fairy Tail and leave this weird twilight zone he was in._

 _"_ _All this drama because one man left the guild," Gajeel muttered to himself, as he brought the cup of ale to his lips and took a long swig. "To think this place relied on him that much as to fall apart when the bastard leaves makes me want to barf."_

 _"_ _What makes you want to barf?" Levy's high pitched voice called out Gajeel._

 _Gajeel looked up and seen the small, petite girl standing in front of him, her hands hanging on her hips as she gave him one of her, 'I-bring-up-small-talk-but-I-actually-have-something- else-to-say' looks._

 _Gajeel repressed a sigh, as he leaned back, throwing his arms over the chairs to the sides of him and took the girl in. He knew she had a crush on him. Hell, it was as obvious as Bunny and the pyro's feelings for each other. Yet, he had never really considered dating the girl before, but seeing her in her crop top that showed her flat stomach, and low cut v-neck that showed a gracious amount of cleavage from her small tits (that she made seem larger with her use of a push-up bra), he might consider something with her. Not a relationship, Mavis knows he didn't need one of those, but a fling. To test the waters, maybe even test a bit of her if she was up for it._

 _Gajeel smirked as he looked at, fantasizing the small girl underneath him. His eyes filled with lust as he thought longer on it. After all, it had been a long time since he last had a go, well, with something other than his hand that is._

 _Levy huffed, folding her hand over her chest clearing her throat to bring the dark-haired dragon slayer out of his fantasy. A scowl replaced the smirk as he looked at her, his mood now ruined._

 _"_ _Why are you still here?" Gajeel growled out more harshly than he intended._

 _Levy didn't seem fazed by his rude attitude as she began repeating her question. "Jet, Droy, Lucy, and I are all going on a mission and were looking for another person. I was wondering if you'd like to come with us."_

 _Gajeel had to force his laugh down. Him working with anybody was funny, but working with a team of people was even funnier to him. "I'm gonna have to pa-"_

 _"_ _Gajeel, Master wants to see you in his office now." Mirajane's cheerful voice said from behind Levy. Gajeel scoffed and took another drink of his beer, completely ignoring the girls in front of him. "Gajeel, Master said it was something important."_

 _They stared each other down for a few moments sizing each other up. Gajeel knew exactly what the old man wanted from him. This happened every time the old geezer wanted to do something behind the guilds back. Usually, he'd wait until nightfall and come and send his little messenger Mira to come and grab him before he left the guild. Each time it had been vaguely the same thing; infiltrate a dark guild, help plot against his enemies, and -his personal favorite- quiet a nosy reporter._

 _Usually, Gajeel agreed to each and every one of them. It filled his desire to beat the shit out of people, and the under-the-table work paid quite handsomely. When a man was offering you a heavy sum of jewels it's kind of hard to say no. Letting out a sigh, Gajeel stood up, stretching his back, until he could hear the satisfying pop._

 _"_ _Alright, I better go and see what he wants then. See yah Shrimp." With a pat on the head to Levy, he took off walking the familiar path down to Master Makarov's office._

 _"_ _Hey, Gajeel! Wait! You never answered me!" Levy called after him._

 _"_ _I told you before, I'm a lone wolf. I don't work well with others." Gajeel said, turning around face the obnoxious girl._

 _Levy muttered something under her breath, just low enough for Gajeel's sensitive ears to not be able to hear her. The next words she spoke were louder. "Well, you don't have to give me an answer right now. Just think about it okay. It could be fun."_

 _"_ _Look shrimp, I already told you. I ain't gonna go." Gajeel growled, but Levy wasn't listening. She had walked away raising her hand in the air as a wave. "Stupid, clingy girl."_

 _Gajeel made his way to Makarov's his mood glum. He walked in without even knocking and sat on one of the chairs in front of Makarov._

 _"_ _What do you want old man? Just tell me what I need to do so I can get out of here. I've got places to be and little girls to avoid." Gajeel said, leaning back in the chair throwing his arm over it and getting comfortable._

 _"_ _Gajeel this is serious," Erza's voice appeared behind him. Gajeel shocked to see another person in the room besides himself, watched as Erza sat down next to him her face serious. "Now is not the time to play games. Master has called you here for a special meeting."_

 _Gajeel opened his mouth to retort her reply, but Makarov beat him to it._

 _"_ _Thank you Erza, but I'll take it from here." Makarov placed a hand over her shoulder, turning to Gajeel, his usually friendly face serious as he looked at him. "Gajeel, something has happened."_

 _"_ _Then what the fuck is it?" Gajeel asked impatiently._

 _"_ _We know where Natsu is," Makarov said._

 _Gajeel's immediate reaction was to scoff. Who the fuck was he to care about where that bastard was? He wasn't friends with him. Hell, he hated that dick. Why should he care whether he was here or not? "Yeah so, it's not like I care. If that was all, I'm gonna go."_

 _"_ _Now Gajeel," Makarov tried to reason, extending his hand to stop his movements. "Although it is true that we know where Natsu is, the job we require of you has nothing to do with finding him."_

 _Gajeel raised a brow. "Yeah, then why give me that kind information? It's obvious you don't want anyone to know about this or else you would have told the rest of the guild already. So what is it you want me to do?"_

 _Makarov let out a soft hum, so Gajeel was smarter than he gave him credit for. He'd have to keep that in mind for his plans later on. "We need you to keep an eye on something."_

 _"_ _Or more like someone," Erza spoke up, a small smile on her face as she moving from her chair to stand next to Makarov, crossing her arms she began again. "Although it is true that we know where Natsu is and what he's doing, Makarov and I think it's best not to let the rest of the guild know about Natsu. Most of them will do unneeded rash things."_

 _"_ _You mean your team."_

 _Erza's smile tightened, "Yes, but one person specific, Lucy Heartfilia. Lucy and Natsu were close. So we need you to keep an eye out for her in case Natsu comes back."_

 _There was a pregnant silence as Gajeel contemplated this new information._

 _"_ _So all you really want me to do is keep an eye out for the blond," Gajeel said skeptically. He was sure there was more that they weren't telling him. He just didn't know what._

 _"_ _Technically speaking, yes," Erza said, her smile turning into a smirk. She shared an amused look with Makarov._

 _Gajeel growled, as his ruby red eye looked between them. "Okay, what is it, huh? What do you both find so amusing?"_

 _"_ _We need you to make her fall for you."_

 _Gajeel's blood ran cold. Make her fall in love with him. No, he couldn't. He couldn't do that. That was just cruel for even him. He had been in love once, it was an amazing, beautiful, and heartbreaking experience. He couldn't do it, it was the whole reason he stayed away from Levy, the whole reason he and Juvia never worked out._

 _He was afraid of love._

 _After what she had done to him, he refused to acknowledge the fact that it was even a possibility._

 _"_ _No," Gajeel said, standing from his chair and walking towards the door. Erza moved to stop him, but he shook her off._

 _"_ _Gajeel," Makarov spoke,his voice eerily calm. "If you leave, then you're out."_

 _Gajeel stopped mid-step, turning around and facing Makarov. " Out of what exactly?"_

 _"_ _The guild of course," Makarov said, getting out of his chair and walking over to stand next to Erza. "Do you really think we'd let you stay after the information we just told you? What's to stop you from telling everyone else what you know?"_

 _"_ _I wouldn't," Gajeel said firmly, but Makarov just shook his head._

 _"_ _We don't know that," Makarov said walking until he was directly in front of him. "I'm just trying to protect my own. Even if it's from them. So, what will it be, Gajeel?"_

 _Gajeel looked into Makarov's seemingly blank eyes._

 _"_ _Fine," He spoke after a moment of silence and began setting a firm mask in place of his usual uncaring matter. He made a smirk slip into place as he spoke his next words carefully. "This might be fun. Anyways, it's been awhile since I've had my last fuck."_

 _With that he walked out the door, heading for the table where Levy sat with Panther Lily. She said that the blond was going with her, right? So he'd best that would be the best place to start._

 _Too bad things didn't go as planned. No matter how many walls he put up over his heart, she still crept in, taking a hold and did not let go. No matter what he told himself, no matter what he said, that didn't stop him from falling for her soft brown eyes and childish actions. How she was so passionate hypnotized him, how beautiful she was drawn him in, how she cared for her friends made him fall in love._

 **(FLASHBACK END)**

 **PRESENT TIME**

So here Gajeel was, sitting by a sleeping Lucy, holding her hand tight in his as memories and thought buzzed around in his head, taunting and tormenting him. He should have never agreed to Makarov's job to watch over Lucy. He should have laughed in his face and refused. He would have rathered gotten kicked out of the guild instead of this torment he was feeling now. He was sitting on her bed taking care of her until she woke up.

The infirmary door opened and Levy's scent flooded the room making Gajeel lean closer to continue and enjoy Lucy's natural scent.

"Oh, Gajeel," Levy spoke, not sounding the least bit surprised to find him here with Lucy. "Lily says he wants to talk to you."

"What for?" Gajeel asked not taking his eyes off of Lucy's pale skin. Something was wrong, her scent was changing.

"I don't know, he didn't tell me, he just said he couldn't find you and wanted help," Levy said putting her finger on her lip in thought. "Though, I did here Happy telling Wendy something about a magic herb that increases your-"

Something was wrong with Lucy. Her scent had changed drastically. No longer had it been the calm and peaceful it had once been. It was now struck with fear and pain.

Tears leaked down Lucy's face, as she slept. She gripped Gajeel's hand tighter in hers and began thrashing around on the bed, drawing Gajeel from his thoughts.

"Lucy," Gajeel said leaning over her body. Her forehead was stricken with sweat, and she was breathing heavy.

 _'_ _She must be having a nightmare.'_ Gajeel concluded and began shaking her and calling her name to try and rouse her. It didn't work.

"What's wrong with her?" Levy asked, helping him pin down Lucy's flailing arms.

"I think she's having a nightmare!" Gajeel spoke through clenched teeth. She was way stronger than he thought she was. "Help me restrain her!"

"I'm trying, she's too strong for me," Levy said, and almost on cue, Lucy brought one strong leg and with a kick, sending her flying into the wall. Levy hit the wall with a thud, and she was knocked out.

"Fuck! Shrimp! Are you okay?" Gajeel called behind his shoulder narrowly avoiding Lucy's flailing limbs.

"I'll be fine," Levy's strained voice replied. She tried to get up, but pain struck in her lower abdomen, forcing her back down. "Damn, her kicks hurt."

Gajeel didn't know what to do. Should he let go of Lucy and go to Levy, or stay with Lucy and keep trying to wake her up. Lucy's face was red from all the screaming she had been doing, and Gajeel was surprised that nobody else had come and seen way there was a twenty-year-old girl screaming bloody murder.

Unknown to them, events were playing behind Lucy's eyes were the current events and pain Natsu was going through right now. It felt like she was being ripped apart slowly then put back together. Opening that book, unlocked something inside of her. Something that should have been locked away and never released has returned. Not only was it affecting her, but it was affected Natsu too. She could see through her eyes, what he was seeing, she could feel what he was feeling.

She didn't know if it was real or not. She could only scream out in pain trapped in this hell hole she was feeling.

 **a/n: I have no excuses**.

 **ANYWAYS! What do you lovely, beautiful ladies, gentlemen, and all configurations of being think is going on? I'd love to hear your guesses. I'm pretty proud of whats going on and what is to come.**

 **I thought we'd get a little bit into Gajeel's past for a moment for character development reasons. It will be needed for later on. Did I mention I love Gajeel?**

 **ANYWAYS! All the love, my little lovelies and please don't kill me.**

 **All the blubbing love** ,

 **Meh.**


	19. 17

**17.**

 **THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW**

Natsu panted as rested his head against the wall of the cell. The room had no windows and no bed. Only cold stone walls and a bucket of water off to the side for when he got thirsty he guessed. Whatever had happened to him before was finally over. His whole body was in pain, and he could hardly move. He knew he had to get out of here. He had to leave and find Lucy. She could be in trouble. Then again, so was he. Whatever Zeref did to was him not good. He didn't even see it coming.

One moment he was attacking him and the next it was all black, almost as if he was in a pleasant sleep, but with a horrible dream filled with blood and gore dragons eating people. There were screams and cries for help as a dragon breathed fire over the village. His heart felt like it was going to explode from how fast it was beating. He hid under this bed and closed his eyes tightly, placing his hands over his ears to block out the sounds.

Then he was in pain, horrific pain that felt like someone was tearing his skin apart slowly, then leaving him alone for a few more minutes but not long enough to give him the blissful feeling of sleep before it the pain was back, this time at an even greater intensity. It was almost as if he was being punished for even thinking about sleep.

Natsu brought a shaky hand to his face before quickly covering his eyes. God, he wanted this pain to stop. He took a shallow breath letting his hand slide down his face and land in his lap. He opened his eyes and looked at his lap.

Horror and amazement filled his mind. His hands no longer had short human nails attracted to his fingers. In their stead was ten long sharp black nails that almost resembled talons if they have been bent. He brought his still shaking hands closer to his face to get a good look at them. He was busy marveling at this new found change when an unexpected thought appeared in his mind.

 _'_ _If my nails had changed what about the rest of my body?'_ Natsu thought. He lifted one hand, letting the fire consume it. _'Good, my magic still works.'_

He looked around the dark room lit by firelight for a way to see his appearance. After looking around he had no clue what could help him.

"Think," Natsu muttered to himself. "Lucy's smart, what would she do?"

His eyes were drawn to the only other object in the room. The bucket of water that sat alienated at the other side of the room. Natsu limped over to it. Every step he took sent a shock of pain up his spine, but he had to know. He wanted to find out what he looked like now. If his whole body had changed or just his nails had just grown irregularly long within the short span he was out. He highly doubted it.

Finally, he made it to the other side of the room. The bucket of water was metal and tilted slightly so it was almost spilling out at one side. Condensation had caused little droplets to form on the outside of it, making their way down until they hit the stone grown, staying there in a wet pile. Natsu noted how the water smelt clean and fresh, but he wasn't all too keen on drinking it, even if his throat felt like sandpaper.

Taking a deep breath, Natsu brought his fist, still on fire, closer to his face as he looked down. His image was distorted by the water, but he could still make out part of his image. Though it was dark, he could see the outline of his figure along with some additional parts. Natsu's hands flew to his head wherein the reflection there were two dark objects protruding from his head. He almost didn't expect anything to be there, for his fingers to latch onto nothing but his hair, but he was wrong. Instead of touching his pink locks, his fingers were met with the feel of something solid. Gasping, he gripped them tightly running his fingers all over the hard, yet soft like it was covered in a soft fuzz.

"What the fuck?" Natsu spoke loudly to himself as he continued to feel them. They were slightly curled up giving it a little dip then back up. He walked backward, lips pursed in concentration as he yanked on the objects.

"Come on," He said, yanking on them harder, but no matter how hard he yanked, they just didn't seem to want to come off. In fact, it seemed more like it was yanking him with it rather than getting them off. He yanked again, walking backward until he hit the wall letting out a series of grunts and growls as he tried to pull them off.

The metal door opened with a creak making Natsu's attention be diverted over to new light that had brightened up the dark room. He had to close his eyes as the new light burned his eyes, he opened them, squinting at the new figure in the doorway. He could only make out the outline, nothing more, but that didn't matter. He knew who it was by the scent.

Suddenly he had a strong urge to attack, but he stayed back, hovering over the wall. He would wait to see what he wanted, after all, he wasn't moving so why would he?

They stayed like that for a few moments until Natsu had, had enough of this silence.

Letting out a huff, before speaking, "Alright, what do you want?"

The figure didn't speak but instead took a few steps into the room until his hooded face was lit up by Natsu's fire. He took off his hood to reveal jet black hair and piercing blood red eyes.

"You have awoken, Master END, Lord Zeref wishes to see you," Saburo said reluctantly.

Natsu scoffed, "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about calling me END, or whatever, but that's not my name so don't get used to calling me that. My name is Natsu."

"And my name is, Saburo, Master END. Though, names do not matter in a place like this. Now, please, come with me." Saburo said taking a step forward.

"No, get the fuck away from me," Natsu said, lifting up his flaming fist threateningly. Saburo didn't stop his advancement, though only picked up his pace towards him.

"Sorry, but Lord Zeref said you'd be reluctant and to take you back using any form to get you to him possible," Saburo said, though the warning Lord Zeref had given him was ringing in his mind.

 _'_ _Be careful, Saburo, he was just awoken and his powers are not under control right now. If he feels threatened then his powers might release without him even knowing.'_

"Stop," Natsu warned, but he didn't. Saburo was in front of him now, reaching his hand out and grabbing his hand.

Natsu's once green eyes glowed red a brilliant red as flames engulfed around his body, licking at his skin, burning off his clothes as they went, and stretching outward to Saburo's. Natsu let out a scream as wings sprouted from his back and stretched out in front of him, blood dripped down from them onto the ground in a small pool.

His face returned back to being passive as he looked at Saburo. He reached out his hand to Saburo, his claws wrapping around his neck and digging into his neck. Saburo left go of his other hand, gripping the one that was around his throat as he tried gasping for air. He was true as Lord Zeref had said. In the light of his flames, he could see him perfectly. He could see the long span of his wings stretched out intimidatingly behind him, he could see his horns -which were much larger than his-, and his elongated fangs.

Most of all, he could see the red eyes that looked much like his and his brothers, yet they were only a bad imitation of the original These were the real things, he was Master END, Lord Zeref's brother, and the first of his kind.

 _'_ _I want this to happen, Saburo. I want you to provoke him to get into this state so he can complete his transformation. Saburo, I want you to sacrifice your life for Natsu to officially become END.'_

Saburo, closed his eyes, welcoming the feeling of pain, knowing that it will all be over soon. After all, this was why he was made, he was just a vessel to hold a part of Master END's power until he was awoken, both he and his brother.

Natsu's flames, engulfed him melting clothes off his body until it reached his skin. He couldn't help but let out a scream as the fire began melting the skin on his face. The pain was much too intense. The grip Natsu had on his neck gradually loosened until the only thing that was left was his sharp talons barely grazing the surface.

"I said," Natsu spoke out, letting out sharp ragged breaths as he let his flames slowly be smothered. "Don't touch me."

He looked up, staring Saburo right in his red eyes, his own losing their color until they set as a deep blood red color much like the own pair in front of him. Natsu was starting to feel tired and his brain was throbbing and his mind was fuzzy. He could hardly recall the events from before, and all the small bits he did remember were hazy. All he could remember was rage, uncontrollable, unexplainable rage. Then pain.

Now, he didn't have time to think about it. He was tired, so utterly tired he couldn't think straight. He began to fall down to the ground, his legs not being able to hold him up. Saburo fell after him, losing consciousness from the loss of blood. He landed right next to him. That's how Zeref found them, both laid out on the ground, unconscious and limbs spread out in various directions.

"Pity," Zeft said, as he looked down at Saburo's burned and mangled body. "It would have been better for everybody if you had died."

He looks one more look at his broken body, before turning his attention back to Natsu. His gaze softened as he looked at him. His body was at an odd angle, his new wings folded behind him. His appearance was exactly as he had remembered long ago.

Zeref let out a small smile.

He finally had him, his younger brother was back, and so was the person destined to kill him.

 **a/n: Hey all, Natsu's chapter going on up here. I hope you like it. Anyways more Lucy & co. next chapter maybe some Natsu threw in there as well. I don't know, tell me what you guys what.**

 **Alright, all the love, kisses and stuff**

 **Love,**

 **Me Xx**


	20. 18

**18.**

 **TWO WEEKS LATER**

 _The impatient pink-haired boy stared at his blond-haired companion kneeling in front of him. "Did you get it?"_

 _"Yeah, I had to sneak it past Aed." She said pulling out the object from the folds of her dress. Natsu carefully took the knife from her hand and gave it a quick once over. The knife itself was a typical kitchen knife, there was nothing special about it, but it would have to for their purposes. "Natsu, what are we doing?"_

 _Natsu knew he couldn't tell her about what he heard Jude and Layla talking about. How he and the others were going to leave soon. Leaving Lucy all alone in this place like she was before. Lucy talked with Natsu about how lonely she was and how happy she was not only to gain one friend but five on the same day._

 _Natsu couldn't let Lucy feel that way again. Not now not ever._

 _Igneel's words ran through his head._ 'Natsu, listen up you brat, this is one of the most important lessons you have to learn. When you find someone you truly care about and never want them to leave, you must follow these steps...'

 _"It's going to be okay, Lucy, I'm just going to make sure we'll be together forever," Natsu said, gently taking her hand in his._

 _Step one: Ask permission_

 _Natsu looked up at her through his long lashes. "Lucy, do you want to be with me forever never leaving my side?"_

 _Lucy looked at Natsu puzzled. Of course, she wanted to be with Natsu forever. "You're my best friend, Natsu, I would never want you to leave me."_

 _Step two: Share blood_

 _"This might hurt, Lucy," Natsu said, bringing the kitchen knife up to the palm of her hand. He heard Lucy suck in a breath and tried to pull her hand away._

 _"Natsu," Lucy was frantic now, trying to pull her hand away from his, but Natsu held it in a tight grip. "What are you doing? Are you trying to cut me?"_

 _"Luce, it's okay, I have to cut you if we want to be together forever." Natsu tried to reason, a little upset that she didn't trust him._

 _Lucy, seeing the look on his face stopped her struggling. She examined his face, feeling angry with herself that she made him sad. Natsu looked at her, his eyes pleading. She gave a short nod of her head, and Natsu brought the knife back up, putting the blade to her hand and slicing her palm open. Lucy let out a hiss of pain as she watched as blood rose up from her fresh wound. Natsu lets go of her wrist and brought the knife to his own hand doing the same thing. Natsu didn't even flinch as the blade pierced his skin._

 _"What do we do now?" Lucy asked Natsu. Natsu didn't answer, instead, he reaches for her hand, lacing their fingers together, their palms stinging as they made contact each other. Lucy's eyes widened. "Oh, it's like we're becoming blood sisters!"_

 _Natsu looked at her confused having no idea what a_ blood sister _was. "You're weird Luce, I'm not a girl."_

 _"I know that," Lucy rolled her eyes. "I meant we're becoming family. Sharing blood and all."_

 _Natsu still had no clue what she was talking about, though, the thought of Lucy sharing blood with anyone else made Natsu furious._

 _He pushed his feelings aside and thought about the next step in the plan._

 _Step three: Mark her_

 _Natsu blushed. When he asked Igneel what he meant he got a rather vivid explanation about what step three and four meant._

 _'Step four will have to come later._ Way _later," Natsu thought looking at Lucy._

 _"Is it over?" She asked and Natsu shook his head. "Okay, what's the last step? I'm ready."_

 _Natsu looked into her big brown eyes, his blush seeming to darken as he thought about it. He moved towards her as if leaning in for a hug, which Lucy was happy to do. She leaned towards him, her face tilting to one side so they didn't bump heads._

 _"Lucy," Natsu murmured. Lucy giggled, Natsu's breath tickling the side of her neck. "I'm sorry."_

 _Then a sharp pain went through Lucy's neck as Natsu's fangs pierced the juncture of her neck and shoulder. Lucy gasped but didn't try to pull away. She had no idea what was going on, but she had a feeling that if she tried to pull away she'd hurt Natsu's feelings even worse than she did earlier, so she stayed still waiting for Natsu to make the next move._

 _After a minute he did._

 _A small trail of Lucy's blood ran from Natsu's mouth and his fangs had grown, visible over his top lip. Lucy followed the trail of blood down his chin and finally looked into his eyes._

 _They were blood red._

 **LUCY HEARTFILIA**

I opened my eyes, squinting at the light pouring through the window into my room back in Magnolia.

 _That dream again._

It had been two weeks since Natsu had died and we fled Bellum. The whole guild was back to how it was before, but this time, they knew, they knew he was truly dead. I saw it with my own two eyes. The time for mourning had come, yet since we left Bellum I couldn't cry. It was like my tears had dried up and as much as I tried I couldn't mourn for him. It didn't feel like he was gone. Maybe I'm in denial or shock and when I truly accepted that he was gone, then maybe the tears would start. For now, I couldn't think about that. I was worried about Happy.

Ever since it happened, he was been barely talking or even eating. When you looked at him he looked dead inside, nothing like the Happy we all know and love. So I've been taking care of him. He hasn't left my side for the past two weeks, not even to go and visit Carla. So we stayed in my apartment, only going to the guild if it was necessary.

Gajeel and Levy would visit sometimes. Happy wouldn't acknowledge them. He would just sit there, staring out my window for hours. He would look over if I was talking to him, but I don't think he was actually listening to me. So I didn't push. He would go to bed next to me, laying down beside my pillow without saying anything.

I let out a sigh as I looked at the ball of blue fur laying down next to me, gently rubbing the top of his head.

A soft tapping sound appeared at my front door and I turned to see Levy peek her head into the door. She gave a sheepish smile as she seen I was still in bed.

"Sorry," she said as she walked into the apartment with a brown paper bag in one hand and a spare set of her house keys in the other. "I thought you'd be up by now. You know, getting ready for the funeral and all."

Right, today was the day of Natsu's funeral.

Even though we didn't have a body, Master and Erza thought it would be better to have a funeral for him like they did with Lisanna, though, this was nothing like with Lisanna's death. Natsu wouldn't be coming back. I felt an ache appear in my chest and I welcomed the pain. It was the first I've had since we came home.

"Lucy," I turned towards Levi and gave her a smile. She set the bag down on the dining table and walked over to me.

"Sorry, I was spacing out for a minute there," I answered with a small laugh.

Levy didn't look convinced but didn't push it. She walked over to me, sitting down on the bed next to me and looking at Happy. "Has he been doing any better?"

Has he been doing better, no not in the least bit, but I knew I couldn't tell Levy this. Since it happened she has been putting on a brave face for me. Always coming over with smiles even if she felt the opposite, making sure that Happy and I were fine. Bring over food and making sure we ate. She was putting all of her efforts into us and making sure we were okay. So, I knew I couldn't tell her. It would only make her worry more, and more of those forced and fake smiles would come.

"He's about the same, really." I lied, as I looked at Happy. "He's been eating more."

"Really!" Levy said cheerfully. I glanced over at her and saw a genuine smile appear on her face.

"Yeah, he's not back to eating fish yet, but Gajeel brought over some of Mira's soup and he ate most of that." Levy seemed to smile even more at that.

"That's good, soon he'll be back to his normal self." Levy paused, her eyes softening as she looked at Happy's sleeping form. "We all will."

It was silent between the two of us for a few minutes before Levy broke it with a small gasp and an 'oh yeah'. Getting up she went over to the table to where the bag was settled there. Grabbing it she came back and sat down next to me again.

"I brought some food if you want some. It's mainly some muffins and such that Mira made this morning. I also put some fish in there for Happy just in case." I smiled at Levy looking inside the bag to see its contents. True to her word, there was two chocolate muffins and a wrapped up object that I assumed was fish inside. "I thought it would be good to eat something before the funeral. I know you probably won't want to eat anything after, so-"

"I'm not going." Levy stopped, her mouth agape as she looked at me.

"What?" Levy whispered.

"I think it's for the best. It would just be harder for Happy to be there, and I don't want to push him to go." I tried to reason with her but she wasn't having it.

"You have to go," Levy argued. "To get closure, and not just for Happy either. For you too."

Another moment or two passed between us of nothing but silence.

"I've been dreaming about him, you know," I said, gaining Levy's attention. "It's been the same dream over and over again since we came back."

Levy didn't answer at first. "Lucy, I know you've been grieving, we all have, maybe this is your body trying to cope with it."

I shook my head, looking out the window. Levy just didn't understand.

It was quiet between the two of us, the only sound was the soft snores that Happy let out. I had to repress a smile. Happy never snored, but Levy didn't know that. Perfect.

"Levy," I said moving to look at her. "Look, I'll rethink about going."

"Thanks, Lucy, I'm sure it would mean a lot to Natsu if you were there."

Yeah, and the person we were supposed to be mourning we didn't even have their body.

I didn't reply as she said her goodbyes and left to get ready for the funeral. I was quiet as I listened for her footsteps and once I was sure she wasn't coming back I turned towards Happy.

"I know you're awake," I said pushing him lightly.

Happy cracked open one of his eyes and looked at me. "Is she gone?"

I nodded. Happy didn't say anything else as he sat up. He only looked out the window in his usual position, his eyes full of thoughts.

"I think we should go."

I looked at Happy shocked. "You think we should go?"

Happy nodded turning towards me. "It might help...with Natsu being...dead."

I nodded my head as pulled Happy towards me as the tears started into form in his eyes again. I rubbed his back as he started to cry, trying to comfort his pain, but not knowing how when I didn't have my own.

"Is it true?" Happy sniffled. "Is it true that you've been dreaming about Natsu?"

"Yeah," I said petting his head. "I have."

"What are they like?"

I paused. How would I start?

"They're weird," I finally said. "They don't seem like dreams. They seem real like they actually happened, but I know they couldn't have."

Happy was silent not saying a word as I tried to word my thoughts.

"Natsu and I are kids. We're not the only ones there. Gajeel, Sting, Rogue, Wendy, they're all there too, but Natsu was the only one I really talked to. He was my best friend. In the dream we did something. I don't know what, but it was something I don't think seven-year-olds are supposed to do. Or anyone for that matter."

I paused letting out a shaky breath, running one hand through my hair nervously. Happy was silent, which was not unusual as of late, but it still upset me. Happy shouldn't be like this. He should be loud, annoying, cheerful, hanging out with his best friend. He shouldn't be sad. None of this should be happening. Natsu shouldn't have left. Natsu should _not_ have come back. Natsu should _not_ have come after me. Natsu should _not_ be dead. If it wasn't for me, Happy would have his best friend, the guild wouldn't be mourning his death if it wasn't for me-

"Do you believe Natsu's dead?" He said interrupting my thoughts.

I hesitated. How could I tell him the truth? How could I tell him that I believe Natsu was alive when I watched him die? How could I tell him that I wouldn't believe he was dead until we had an actual body to bury.

But how could I lie to him?

"I don't know. It doesn't feel like he is dead." I admitted leaning my head against the wall and examining my ceiling. "

I saw the look on his face and knew I had said enough.

"Come on, let's get ready."

It didn't take us long to get to the funeral. Natsu's headstone wasn't being placed in the graveyard, instead, it was being placed at the guild itself. In the garden, they had cleared out a section for him only. I didn't know how to feel about this. I could tell Happy didn't either.

As we entered the garden we followed the sound of voices to where 'Natsu' lay. Everyone was dressed in black with sad looks on their faces. Levy's words rang in my ears and I let out a bitter laugh.

"What Natsu would have wanted my ass," I mumbled and Happy nodded beside me.

"He wouldn't have wanted this," Happy said looking around at the people here.

I knew he was thinking the same thing. All the faces here looked so familiar, yet so different at the same time.

"Happy!" I heard Carla call out from somewhere in the crowd. Happy looked at me as if asking permission to go. I gave him a nod and he walked towards the direction her voice came from leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I sighed looking around me. The Strauss siblings were huddled together close together near Natsu's headstone, all with sad looks on their faces. The same went for Erza and Gray and Juvia and Levy and Wendy, hell, even Gajeel looked a bit sad.

I knew I couldn't approach any of them. I couldn't approach anyone. They would all expect me to feel something I knew I couldn't feel. No matter how hard I tried.

"Lucy," I heard a voice say from behind me. I turned around to be met with Master Makarov.

"Hi,"

"I have something for you. Something I think Natsu would want you to have." I gasped as I watched Master pull out a familiar scarf. "We found it when we were looking for Natsu." He explained. "I wasn't sure whether to give it to you or not, but I think you should have it."

I didn't even realize my hand was moving until I felt the soft fabric under my hand as I gripped it tightly. I vaguely remember saying thank you to him and watching him leave to talk to the others who were mourning.

That's when I knew I had to get out. So I began walking.

I walked through town, ignoring the odd looks people gave me. I walked until I hit the woods, then kept walking. I walked until I was met with a familiar clearing following it until I came to the river Natsu and Happy used to drag me to when they went fishing.

I collapsed to the ground.

I don't know how long I sat like that or how much time had passed or if the funeral was still going on or if it had ended. I didn't know if someone was looking for me. Frankly, I didn't care. I didn't care when it became dark. I didn't care when it started raining, soaking through my black dress. I didn't care whether I would get sick or not.

I felt numb. Void of emotions. It was like I was a shell of my old self, a ghost of the girl I used to be.

I somehow managed to get to the cover of trees where the rain wouldn't hit me as much.

I didn't notice the shaking of my limbs or my chattering teeth. I was too focused on the object in my hands.

I gripped his scarf tightly in my hand as I inhaled the scent. Even though it was wet, it still had vague traces of him left on it. I let myself fall back onto the wet ground, his scarf still in my hands as I let the tears fall for the first time.

 **THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW**

"Where the fuck is she!" An angry and frustrated dragon slayer yelled, punching the wall next to him.

Ever since he had noticed Lucy was missing after the funeral, he hadn't stopped trying to find her. They tried the obvious places first, the guild, her place, Levy's place, she was nowhere. Not even Happy knew where she went. By the time they thought about trying to use their dragon slayer senses, it was too late. The rain has started to fall, preventing any chance that they had to find her.

"Gajeel!" His companion yelled, taking ahold of his hand, looking at his bleeding knuckles with a frown. "You can't be doing this. Hurting yourself."

"Why not?" Gajeel snapped yanking his hand out of her smaller one. "Why can't I hurt myself when she could be hurting? When I didn't look after her well enough."

"This is not your fault," Levy said, standing on her tippy toes, grabbing the back of his neck to bring him down to her height. She cradled his face tenderly, as she looked into his red eyes. "Listen to me, none of this is your fault. She left on her own, and we'll find her." She promised.

The figure hiding in the shadows darted out faster than they could see when he found out that they would be no use to him. He had been following them since he had gotten here, wondering what they were up to. Now he knew.

She was missing.

He thought about the places he had followed them an angry growl rising in his throat when he thought of them going to Gajeel's house. He thought of the places they had gone.

Then it came to him.

It was plainly obvious he knew it would take them a long time to even try to come up with the idea. When they did, there were only two other people who knew about the location, one was off doing who knows what, and the other would never tell. It was their secret.

He dashed through the woods finally coming to a stop at a cottage in the woods. Taking one look at the place he knew she wasn't there. She would never leave the windows open when it was raining.

If not here then where?

He began darting through the woods, looking around with his newfound eyesight not stopping or even slowing his pace. Finally, after a look through most of the woods, he found her curled up under a tree, her black dress blending into the night, only her blond hair making her somewhat noticeable. He picked up his pace when he noticed her, his eyes widening as he looked at her. He didn't know how long she had been out here, but he hoped it wasn't too long.

He kneeled as he was about to pick her up when he noticed something in her hands. He felt his heart flutter. It was his scarf, the one his father had given to him as his last present. Usually, Natsu would be mad if someone had touched his scarf that wasn't him, but knowing that Lucy had it with her, that she clutched it in her hands as she slept, made him want her more.

"Lucy," Natsu whispered as he picked up the shivering girl in his arms. She instantly curled into the warmth of his body. His red eyes looked over her, checking for any injuries. "Let's go home."

Natsu tucked Lucy's head into the crook of his neck, bring his wing over and covering her to prevent any more rain hitting her, and he began walking back. Opening the door, he was greeted with his old house that he hadn't entered in three years. The place was clean, which was nothing like it had been when they had left it. There was hardly any dust in it either proving that someone had been here.

Natsu looked down at Lucy, his eyes softening.

Natsu walked over to his hammock, gently place Lucy down in it. She let out a whimper at the loss of his warm skin. Natsu put a hand on her forehead, she was burning up. Or was that him? It was hard to tell anymore.

"It's okay," Natsu promised, his eyes looking at her sleeping face as he leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "It will all be okay."

 **a/n: Hello everybody, how are you all doing? If you were wondering why I haven't updated in like forever it's because I've been going back and editing all of my earlier chapters and working on the ending of this story. Which- won't be coming soon-I'm happy with.**

 **With the earlier chapters, I've updated 0-3 and currently working on the fourth, so I would not go and try to reread anytime soon. THOUGH! I highly recommend that if you decide you want to go and reread 0-3 then you check them out. Especially chapter two. It sets the mood for the editing and rewriting I'm doing to chapters 00-10ish. Maybe higher. I'm pretty proud of the chapter. I had quite a bit of fun writing it.**

 **Tell me what you think and what not.**

 **All the loves guys, gals, unicorns? (whatever you prefer to be)**

 **I wonder if anybody can guess the ending. Or what the next chapter is going to be about...**

 **Bye xoxo**


	21. 19

**19.**

The thought of life was fleeting.

Life has always been short. You're on this Earth for such a short period of time, and then you're gone in the blink of an eye. Zeref had seen many people live and die throughout all of his long years. Some he cared for deeply, and others he didn't care about in the slightest. There were only two people he ever cared about, and both died.

Zeref looked down at the E.N.D book with a slight frown. He knew what changing Natsu would mean for him. How it would change the way his guild - no, his family looked at him. The thought makes his chest ache, but he forced the emotions down. Zeref found this out the hard way what happened when he let his emotions take control of him.

"Lord Zeref," a meek, frightened voice called out. Zeref looked at the guard with an amused smile. The guard was standing there awkwardly and seemed to look everywhere in the room except at him.

"Enter," Zeref said, his voice laced with amusement.

The guard reluctantly walked through the throne room before he knelt at Zeref's feet. With his head bowed forward and with his forward before kneeling at his feet. The guard took a shaky breath before he spoke in nothing but a faint whisper, but to Zeref they might was well been screamed at him.

Rage swelled up inside of him, pushing at the lid of the metaphorical container he had for moments exactly like this. Unfortunately, they weren't sealed tight enough. Slowly the black magic began to fall from his body and onto the floor, turning it to a dark black color. The guards in the room didn't even have time to run before the dark wave was on them. Their screams of terror could be heard all throughout the castle as the waves of Zeref's magic power engulfed them. The black predation taking a hold of them and draining them of all life and turning them into ash on the floor.

"My lord, I'm sorry to announce that Master E.N.D has gone missing. It appears he escaped from his room in the middle of the night after he killed Sabado."

The words rang in Zeref's head as if to mock him. He couldn't help but let out a laugh in irony. After he just got his brother back he's gone again.

'Well played Natsu. Well played.' Zeref thought as he moved back to the freshly black throne.

"Guards," Zeref called out, waiting a few moments for the guards stationed at the door to enter. "Send my troops to Magnolia and search for Lucy Heartfilia. My brother is sure to be with her."

The members of the Alvarez Empire Guard knew better than to ask questions of their emperor. The four guards that rushed into the room after their master beckoned were no exception. They walked in, their helmets hiding the horror of their face. Not that Zeref could care less if they were scared of him.

"Yes, sir," One of the guards said nudging the others to follow him out of the room.

Zeref watched them go with a stoic expression. To the outside, it would seem as if he was amused, but no one knew the inner turmoil that raged on the inside.

It had been three days. A whole three days since Lucy went missing from Natsu's funeral. A whole three days it's been raining. It was almost like the sky was crying for her with it's sad cries that have continued on seemingly getting louder every moment that passed.

 _drip_

 _drip_

 _drip_

Sometimes he envies the rain. He envied how easy it must be for it to just disappear like they do. How short their life is that they could barely feel anything at all. The drops fell as Gajeel looked out the guild window with tired eyes, watching as the drops fell from the sky. He watched how each drop race towards the ground, each drop reaching out their hands to the ground as they greeted each other as if they were old friends, falling briskly to the ground only to lose themselves in a sea of other raindrops, forgetting what it meant to be an individual in the process of being whisked away in an of nothing but raindrops that look identical to you. Never to be thought of as a single raindrop ever again.

Gajeel knew he couldn't be a rain drop. The situation wouldn't allow it. Not that it should let him in the first place. There was too much at stake. Not only for him but the woman he loved and the friends he made while at this guild. That's why Gajeel knew he had to do anything the guild master wanted him to do.

"Gajeel?" A high-pitched voice brought him out of his thoughts. He turned to be met her worried eyes and parted lips. "Gajeel, have you gotten any sleep?"

Levy's words bounced off of Gajeel and he stared at her like nothing was coming out of her mouth. How could he sleep at a time like this? At a time where anything could have happened to her and he was just on the sidelines, looking from afar until Master deemed him stable enough with this situation to go out there and do something to help find her.

"Gajeel?" A high-pitched voice brought him out of his thoughts. He turned to be met her worried eyes and parted lips. "Gajeel, have you gotten any sleep?"

Levy's words bounced off of Gajeel and he stared at her like nothing was coming out of her mouth. How could he sleep at a time like this? At a time where anything could have happened to her and he was just on the sidelines, looking from afar until Master deemed him stable enough with this situation to go out there and do something to help find her.

"Sorry," Gajeel said after a moment or two of her worried looks. "I'll be fine. I need to go and talk to the master real quick. Don't worry about me, okay Shrimp." Gajeel said as he moved away from the window and ruffling Levy's hair in the progress.

Levy couldn't bring herself to call him no matter how much she wanted to. Something was wrong with him, and as much as she hated to admit it, she knew that she couldn't be the one to help her. She just watched as he stalked away from her and towards the headmaster's office.

 **GAJEEL REDFOX**

I walked in without knocking and took a seat next to the red-headed bitch without a word. It wasn't like I wanted to be here in the first place. If they couldn't put up with my attitude then that was their fucking fault. Not mine.

Erza glanced over at me, her usually playful expression wiped away and replaced by the look he had never seen before. I was not afraid to admit that it scared me a little. She didn't do anything, though, just gave him a quick nod and continued to look ahead of her, her hands clenched together tightly in fists in her lap, knuckles turning white from the amount of force she was exerting. If she pushed down any harder I swear she would have broken skin. I shrugged it off, wanting to get this done and over with already.

"Why are we here?" I asked Master Makarov crossing my legs and throwing my arms over the back of the couch I was sitting on. "Natsu's dead. It's done and over with, right? No need to watch him."

"Yes, and you get to go back to chasing after a girl who will never love you." Erza's words formed into knife's and with every word they seemed to stab him in the chest leaving a wound worse than any physical one he ever had before.

"Enough," Makarov said, stopping any future fight right then and there.

The room was silent as we glared at each other, no words spoken but that of the hate in our eyes when the door opened again. Deciding I'd had enough with our staring match, I turned my face towards the door and watched as someone walked through the door with slight shock.

My eyes followed the man as he walked into the room. Laxus didn't look like here cared much for being here either. His lips looked like they had been pulled into a slight frown.

"Good," Makarov said. "Now that we're all here, it's time to get down to business. We all know how Lucy has been missing for several days now. I have reason to believe that she was taken by someone."

I threw myself out of the couch, standing over Makarov in an intimidating stance. "What do you mean taken?"

Makarov didn't even seem fazed. "I mean, we have cause to believe that something...not human has taken her."

"So, why call us?" Laxus asked, taking a step closer towards us. "What do we have to do with it?"

"You three are some of Fairy Tail's strongest wizards, and some of the most trustworthy. I mean you two to help me find them, and kill them."

"What is it that we're looking for?" I asked, taking a seat next to Erza.

Makarov was silent for a moment, his eyes hazy as if they were conflicted. "A monster is known as END."

A sharp intake of breath was heard. "END as in the demon Zeref created?"

Makarov looked at his grandson with weary eyes. "Yes, and it's the same one."

The room was silent as no words were exchanged between us. The sound was rain was the only thing to keep us company as we all grasped what was going on. END was here, in Magnolia, and it had Lucy. I felt my anger flare, gripping the armrest tightly between my two fingers. Master didn't seem extremely worried that END had taken Lucy, and no matter what he did to me in the past, I was sure that he would go for Lucy if he knew she was in immediate danger. So, why? Why wasn't he freaking out?

"You is it." I finally asked, watching his face closely. "There is no way END could get passed us, so they have to be someone we know. Who is it? Who's the bastard who took Lucy?"

The room was quiet again no one saying anything. I waited for someone to say something, anything but no one did.

"Fine, I'll find out myself." I made a move to go to the door, but Erza's voice stopped me.

"It's Natsu," Erza said just barely above a whisper, and I knew if she had said it any louder than I wouldn't have heard it. "Natsu is Zeref's brother and his first successful demon. END is an acronym and it stands for Etherious Natsu Dragneel."

"It's Natsu," Laxus said, his usually calm and collected face morphed into a gobsmacked one. "There's no way. I don't believe it."

"It's true," Makarov said, pushing himself from his chair to stand on his desk. "Now that you know, you know why this can't get out to the rest of the guild. What you know must stay in this room and not be shared with anyone. Not even your closest friends. Now, we must go and inform the rest of the guild about what we know about END and Lucy."

Makarov made a move towards the door, Laxus and Erza following right behind him. I made a motion to follow them, but I heard a noise by the master's window. There was absolutely no reason why I should have been paranoid, but I was, so went to take a look. The night was still upon us, making it hard to see outside of the window. Though I wouldn't see anything my nose caught it all.

The faint smell of firewood caught my nose before whisked away by the rain.

Lucy hated the rain.

It rained the day her mother died, and again at Natsu's funeral. Every sad thing that's ever happened in her life seemed to be situated around rain. That's why it always put her in a bad mood when it rained. Something was always bound to go wrong. That's why when Lucy woke up to the sound of rain hitting the roof she knew something was wrong.

Lucy groggily opened her eyes only to be met with an unfamiliar ceiling. Lucy blinked a few times trying to clear the sleep from her vision. It didn't help. Not only did her vision not clear, but she felt completely and utterly too warm. She tried to kick off the blankets surrounding her to no avail. She was too weak.

'I must be sick,' Lucy reasoned a sad smile forming on her lips. 'That's what I get for falling asleep in the rain. '

Lucy looked around the room, trying to figure out where she was but had no luck.

"Natsu," Lucy mumbled in her fevered state, and she felt tears swell up in her eyes at the thought of her best friend.

' _Maybe this is my fate_.' Lucy thought. She felt her eyes drifting shut as sleep fell over her like a blanket. ' _I let Natsu die and now I'm going to go too. Seems fitting_.'

"Natsu," Lucy mumbled in her fevered state one last time before completely and utterly falling asleep.

Natsu stood in the back of the room, his whole body aching to go to the woman calling out his name, but he knew he couldn't. Not while she was awake. He couldn't - no, he wouldn't allow her to see him like this. He wouldn't allow her to see him as a monster like this.

Listening to her breathing for a moment before deciding it was safe to go to her. Natsu reluctantly walked up to Lucy, who was laid passed out on the couch, with worried eyes.

Lucy's skin was clammy with a greenish tint, and her whole body seemed to be shivering even though the cabin was warm. Her breathing didn't seem regular either. She was breathing in heavy pants, her eyes squeezed tightly together as if she were in pain.

Natsu was at a complete and utter loss on what to do. Lucy was sick. Natsu knew that, hell, he'd even been sick on multiple occasions before, in fact, he had Mira take care of him on several times when he was sick, but it was never like this. The belly aches and headaches were nothing compared to what Lucy had. This was serious. This was different. This was new and he had no idea how to help her.

The only person the knew that could even help in the slightest lived all the way out in the Eastern Forest on the other side of Magnolia. The exact opposite side of the town from Natsu. He knew people were out looking for him, not only Zeref's men but members of his own guild as well. Natsu couldn't suppress his grimace as the thought about the three that were after he crossed his mind.

When he first found out that Lucy was sick his instant reaction was to go and get help from the guild. That's when he heard it. They were planning to kill him.

Erza, Laxus, and _Gajeel_.

Not to mention Gramps. They all wanted him dead because he was some kind of monster. Well, they weren't far off from the truth. Anybody who looked at Natsu would have thought he was a monster. From the wings, the horns, the fangs, the claws, and the bright red eyes, there was no mistaking it. Natsu knew it would be better if he were to die.

Even so, he couldn't help but want to live for the girl in front of him. Natsu leaned over her and gently, very gently, moved her hair away from her neck to find what he was looking for.

Natsu always thought that they looked familiar, the two perfectly circle shaped scars barely two inches apart on her neck. When he finally asked Lucy about it, she had said she didn't know why they were there, or how she got them. She just had them for as long as she could remember, but he remembered now. Not only that, he rendered exactly just what it entailed to have those put on her.  
 _  
'I'll protect you, Lucy. I promised I'd protect you for the rest of my life and that's what I plan to do.'  
_ **  
**Natsu leaned down, brushing her bangs from her eyes as he went.

Careful not to wake her up, he placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.

Lucy's breathing called down in the slightest, making Natsu smile. It was good he had this effect on her. It proved what he thought was true.

Natsu didn't pull his face away from hers. Hey knew it was wrong, he knew he would be taking advantage of her, but he couldn't help it.

Natsu brought his face closer to hers, their lips barely spat, before he placed his lips on hers, his hand coming up to cup her cheek gently.

 _'I love you, Lucy. I promise I will make you better and kiss you when you're awake. Just hold on for me, please.'_

 **a/n: HELLO MY LOVELY PEOPLE.**

 **I HOPE YOU EJOY THIS CHAPTER AND ALL THE FEELS IT BRINGS. I'M SAD TO SAY, BUT THIS BRINGS US TO THE LAST LEG OF THIS STORY. WE HAVE MAYBE SIX TO TEN CHAPTERS LEFT, AND I ALREADY STARTED TO WRITE THE LAST CHAPTER AND EITHER YOU ALL WILL LOVE ME OR HATE ME FOR IT.**

 **ANYWAYS, I LOVE YOU ALL MY LOVIES**

 **\- YOUR UNFAITHFUL WRITER**


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